Dear Diary 3: Unwritten
by Sorasgirl333
Summary: Two years after graduation, the group went their separate ways. Everyone’s great on their own, but this is life and it just isn’t perfect. However, their endings are still unwritten...
1. Dear Diary: Prologue

**Dear Diary 3: Unwritten **

**Author**: Sorasgirl333

**Summary**: Two years after graduation, the group went their separate ways. Everyone's great on their own, but this is life and it just isn't perfect. However, their endings are still unwritten...

**Disclaimer**: My plot, my ideas – not my characters ('cept for a few!), not my company, nor are they my songs

**Authors Note**: Welcome my lovely readers! I'd love to thank all of you who have stuck around from _Dear Diary_, _Dear Diary 2: Beyond The Pages _and now here's the final addition to the Dear Diary family! This chapter is in Kairi's new diary but it wont be in italics, you could also call this the prologue. I actually wrote this chapter while I was in the middle of Dear Diary 2 because I knew exactly what I wanted to happen. Well, let's get to the story, shall we? Enjoy _Dear Diary 3: Unwritten_!

**Chapter 1**: Prologue- Dear Diary

Dear Diary, Aug. 15, 2009

Hey, it's me, Kairi Hikari... or soon to be known as Kairi Hikari Hikaru! (**A/N**: wow that's fun to say, lol) It's been almost two and a half years since Sora had purposed and we finished off high school. I figured I'd write what happened to everyone after the party at my house on Graduation night.

Cloud Strife, my best friend from the beginning of 6th grade when I moved to Star City from Destiny City. Cloud now lives back in Star City, which is his hometown. He really has grown up a lot in the years after high school. Cloud's more serious and to himself. I guess that's what maturity really does to you. We were all surprised to hear of his and Namine's break up just 6 months after grad. He's now dating Aerith Gainsborough. That was a total change to us. We knew Aerith back in High School but we were only friends. I guess she moved to Star City and went to collage there where Cloud and her met up. Namine and Cloud are still great friends and are very close which is great to hear! (**A/N**: sorry all of you who liked the pairing I created so long ago, I want to go back to originality! Hey, least they're friends! XD)

Namine Takumi, my best friend from day one of elementary school. My blonde haired twin. Namine ended up moving to Twilight Town after graduation. She says she loves it there and majored in art. At first, Nam was distraught when her and Cloud broke up but knew it was for the best. Yeah, Star City and Twilight Town aren't far away from each other, but things just didn't end up being as perfect as they hoped. However, there is a new man in Namine's life... that's right Roxas Hikaru, Sora's cousin. They're great for each other.

Roxas Hikaru, who I said before, is Sora's cousin. Roxas moved to Twilight Town after transferring from University of Destiny City in his Junior year to University of Twilight Town. He met up with Namine and they started dating not too long ago. They're both planning on moving back to Destiny City in a month so it'll be easier for Roxas to get to work. Sometimes he has to stay in town because the drive is unbearable to drive day to day. Roxas works for the company mine and Cloud's family work for. Destiny Island Foundation, all the small business of the Destiny Islands transfer all their files to D.I.F. to get the files saved and accounted for. Roxas is on the 58th story of the 100 story building. The higher you are, either the longer you've worked there or the higher ranked you are for doing your job. Roxas loves his job.

Riku Koru, Sora's best friend since before elementary school. He was also in top ranking 'I want to date him oh so badly' list in the girls world of High School, right next to Sora, Roxas and Shawn. Riku has grown up so much. He's much taller, about 6 foot or taller, I think. His eyes are more serious looking and still that very unique aqua color. Riku's platinum colored hair is just barely below his shoulders now, his boss told him to cut it (since it was getting pretty long) or he wouldn't be working for him at 'Paradise Bar and Grill'. Riku says he loves his job, seems to suit him since he loves being surrounded by people and loves the lime light. Him and Amanda are still together and I couldn't see a better match for either of them.

Amanda Makoto, one of my greatest friends of all. She just graduated from Destiny High in 2008, the year after us. She's still dating Riku as I said above. They even live together now. Amanda has grown up beautifully, she finally decided to grow her brunette hair to her mid-back and part it on the left side of her head, leaving her bangs to fall slightly over her right eye. (**A/N**: just like Tifa's hair) She still works with Yuna at 'The Wave'. The business is doing great now that Destiny City has grown a lot in the last year and a half. I stop by the store every now and then to visit her and Yuna.

Selphie Tilmitt and Irvine Kinneas married not too long after graduation. That was a shocker to us all considering we were randomly invited to a party before our first year of collage and the new school year and it turned out being their wedding. It was a small, close friends and family only wedding. Once the school year started up, Irvine and Selphie went off to Balamb Island which is quite far from here actually. Last I heard they were at Balamb Garden which is a military academy. I never thought Selphie would do something like that, but surprises are all around us.

Yuna Yoru still works at her mom's store 'The Wave', but is soon going to be quitting to move to Besaid Island with Tidus Taiyou. I'm not entirely sure when they'll be leaving but Yuna's all ready started to pack. She did live in Besaid for a short while before moving to Destiny City and I've heard a lot about it. It seems like a nice place. Hopefully she'll love being home again.

As said up above, Tidus is moving to Besaid. He's starting a career in Blitzball. Tidus was always fond of the sport because his father, Jecht, was a famous Blitz player for the Zanarkands Abes before he passed away and Tidus moved here. Just his luck, he was doing some practice moves at the beach with Wakka... Tidus did a move his father taught him and it hit Wakka... literally. Wakka then got the idea to call up some of his old buddies and see if they were still willing to make a Blitzball team. Sure enough, they were.

Wakka Mizu is now the team captain for the Besaid Aurochs and is moving to Besaid Island, which would make sense if Wakka's the captain for the Blitz team. He's pretty excited, for two reasons. One is because he's part of a team for his favorite sport of all time. Second, him and Lulu Youjustu are expecting a baby together. We're all still pretty young (we're all in our early 20's), but I think those two can handle it. Hopefully soon, they will be marrying.

Joshua Jones, a.k.a. Josh moved back to Star City after graduation as well as Cloud. Josh and Melissa Heart, a.k.a. Lissa ended up breaking up about a year after graduating due to a big argument. I don't know the reason of the fight but all I know is that they haven't spoken since. Lissa ended up moving to The Radiant Garden or also known as Hollow Bastion. Yuffie Kisaragi, Cid Highwind, and Squall Leonhart, also goes by Leon, have all moved there too. The four of them are starting something called the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee. Some huge earthquake destroyed it a while ago and there have been a lot of robberies and such. They're working together to bring it back to it's normal state. (**A/N**: xD like the touches I made to make it sound more realistic?)

Blake Strife, Cloud's younger brother and Alexa, my younger cousin, are still dating. They're going to be seniors are Destiny High this up coming school year. Those two are very excited to be ruling the school. I remember those days like it was yesterday. I even gave Alexa her own diary so that she can write about her high school life like I did.

Shawn Johnson is some business man somewhere around here in Destiny City. Him and Christy Jillings broke up recently from what I hear. Amber Johnson, who's Shawn's twin sister moved away with a boy she met in her freshman year of collage. Sarah and Cindy, two of Shawn's fangirls, well they work for D.I.F. on the 57th floor. It sucks to see them, but luckily we don't see them often. For the rest of Shawn's friends, they're still around. Everyone's still friends, but none of them are trying to sabotage anyone's life.

Lastly, Sora and I. The two of us actually work together for Destiny Island Foundation, along with Roxas and my parents. It's a whole little family thing. Sora and I, too, work on the 58th floor. Sora's one of the many co-executive's they have there. I'm his secretary. Our days off always change, sometimes we're lucky to have them at the same time. Sora's been working there for a year now, while I have only been there for half a year. Sora's still going to U.D.C. while I finished up two years at Destiny Community Collage. I love this job, even though I love it, my passion is still writing... I don't think that'll ever change though.

Sora and I live in the northern part of Destiny City with our golden retriever, Princess and our Persian cat, Precious. It's defiantly more of a city then downtown where it's mainly just a town. We moved out of my parents house a couple months after graduation. For that beach side home that Elizabeth left us in her will, well, that's our get away home, we decided. We share it with my parents too. We'll probably have the wedding there. It sure is big enough for one! I think I've got everyone down. I better finish off this entry, Sora's getting off work any minute now.

Love Always, Kairi

**A/N**: Yes, that was short. It's a prologue after all. So now all of you know where everyone went. There will be more about each character in later chapters, I couldn't spoil it all here anyway. I decided to put some of the characters in their original game surroundings. The next chapter will actually be normal lol. Welp, here it comes, my first batch of reviews! Can't wait to read them! XD

**A/N prt 2**: Please, if anyone sees any remakes of my Dear Diary story (any of the three, except for a Twilight version of Dear Diary) please inform me! Thank you!


	2. The Truth About Forever

**A/N**: So this story will consists of shorter chapters, Kairi's AND Sora's point of view, and the story won't be anywhere near as long as the others.

**Chapter 2**- The Truth About Forever

I closed my new diary and stuck it in the drawer of my desk, along with all my story notebooks that I've written in since high school. My eyes wandered over to the open window in front of me.

We were living in a two bedroom apartment with a little nook for our computer in the livingroom. It was an average sized living space but it was good for Sora and myself. It was still weird to me that it was just us living together now.

Princess walked over to me and sat down. She put her head in my lap as she stared up at me. I couldn't turn down that face, so I rubbed her head. She seemed be enjoying it since her tail was wagging quickly. The front door opened which easily distracted her. Sora walked in wearing a light blue button up shirt and slacks. Princess bolted to greet Sora with a small bark. He smiled and patted her head.

"Hey." He walked over and leaned down to kiss me.

"Hi." I smiled watching him walk into the bedroom.

"How was your day?" Sora called from inside. I could hear him getting things out of the closet and drawers.

"It was okay. I got bored." I replied hearing the bed stress under his weight as he changed. "Yours?"

"It was fine I suppose. It was just work." He said back. "I'd rather be home." After about another minute, Sora walked into the livingroom where I had changed positions from the computer chair to the couch. He sat down next to me and I leaned into him.

"I'm glad you're home." I said looking up. His hand found its way to my face as he leaned me up to kiss him. It was one of those really passionate kisses that come in the moment. Of course our moment was wrecked when there was a knock at the door. We both let out sighs as Sora got up to answer it.

Riku was standing in the doorway with a straight, but somewhat sad face. He wasn't one for emotions anymore so it was hard to know what he was feeling the moments you saw him.

"Hey," Sora said stepping aside for Riku to enter. He nodded and walked over to sit in the chair by the couch. Sora sat back down where he was sitting before.

"How are you, Riku?" I asked quietly. His intense eyes met mine as he shrugged.

"Okay, you've always been the one to never show emotion but this isn't like you." Sora said leaning forward to get a good look at his friend.

"Come on, Riku. You can tell us anything." I assured him.

"Amanda and I aren't together anymore." He finally said aloud. The way it came out of his mouth, it sounded dry and airy.

"Wait, what?" I was actually quite shocked by this. These two had been dating for over 3 years and everything seemed fine just last week when I went to their house.

"She broke up with me." Riku clarified.

"Did she say why?" Sora asked.

"Just wasn't in love with me anymore." And that was the first time that Riku had really shown that much emotion since I've known him. Tears began to stream from his eyes as he bent down and covered his face. "I don't hate her at all though and I don't want anyone else to either."

"How long ago did this happen?" I asked sitting on the ground next to him as I rubbed his back.

"The other day." He replied quietly. "I still love her but there isn't anything I can do. Love doesn't always last forever. We talked about it though and we're going to try to being just friends thing. I'm hoping that'll last. I'd rather have her as a friend then nonexistent in my life at all."

"Well, that's good."

"So who's living where?" Sora questioned. "You two have been living together for a year now."

"Well I guess she's going to move back home until she figures out what to do and I just don't want to stay in the apartment." Riku said wiping his last tears away.

"You can live with us until you decide what to do." Sora offered.

"That'd be cool with you two?" He asked hesitantly.

"Of course, that's what friends do." I nodded.

"Want to go get some stuff?" Sora suggested standing up. Riku nodded and the two left me alone in the house once more. I sighed standing up. There wasn't anything to do around here so I sat back down at the computer desk and reached for my diary.

_Dear Diary,_

_It's me again, and I know it wasn't that long ago that I just wrote. So I just found out that Riku and Amanda are no longer together. It's a shame really but it just goes to show that sometimes forever ends quicker then you think. Love is far from perfection and I guess sometimes people really do fall out of love. All you can do is just hope for the best and who knows, maybe things will be okay again. You must always look for the good in the bad because if you don't, you may never find happiness again. _

_Love always, Kairi _

As I slipped my diary into the spot it belonged, I reached for the phone and dialed Amanda's cell phone number. It rang a few times before I heard her weary voice answer.

"Hello?" She replied quietly.

"Amanda, it's Kairi." I said into the phone.

"Oh, hey." Her voice cleared up a little more. "What's up?"

"How come you never told me about you and Riku?"

"Oh... you found out. I wasn't sure how to tell you what happened between us." I heard her sigh heavily. "I don't know, feelings just disappeared. I mean, he's still a great guy, but I think we should both date around a little more. I just don't love him like I used to and I do feel terrible about it."

"Do you think you two will get together again?" I asked.

"Possibly. You just never know. Maybe I'll realize what I did wasn't what I should have done. Time will only tell."

"So I heard you're moving back to your parents home."

"Yeah," Amanda said. "I don't know where Riku's moving though, he said he doesn't want to keep the apartment."

"He'll be living with us until he gets himself figured out."

"Oh." She hummed. "I guess that'd be good for him."

"Would you like some help with your stuff?" I asked.

"That'd be nice."

"See you in a bit."

---

About fifteen minutes later, I arrived at Amanda and Riku's apartment. As soon as she let me in, I noticed boxes everywhere. Their apartment before was very sophisticated apartment with a warm blue, suede couch and a matching creme colored chair. A 32 inch television was placed in front with a large stereo system on the side. They also had some modern art placed around to give them a young, yet mature theme. Nothing was hanging on the walls anymore when there used to be pictures of all of us throughout the years.

"Riku and Sora just left recently." Amanda said picking up a few boxes marked with her name.

"Do you and Riku really talk?" I decided to ask as I searched for more of her boxes.

"Yeah, but it's kind of awkward. Since the break up, we try not to stay in the same room together too long. He's also offered to sleep on the couch the last couple nights. I feel really bad." She frowned turning to me.

"Well he realizes this is what needs to happen, he still loves you, you know."

"Yeah, I know... he keeps telling me that." That was the last we talked for about an hour besides discussing what goes where and what to put in whose car. Since they had a small apartment, it was easy to collect most of the stuff and drive it to her parents house. The larger furniture was left to Riku and Sora to put into storage for when either one of them found their own place to live.

Amanda left for her original home and I went to my own. Riku and Sora were in the spare bedroom getting things together. There was a knock at the door and when I answered it, a tall blond haired friend of mine lifted his chin in a "hey, what's up" fashion.

"Hey, Cloud." I smiled letting him in.

"Who is it?" Sora called out from Riku's new room.

"What's up Sora!" Cloud called as he walked into the kitchen. Sora must have recognized his voice and replied with a "Nothin' much, Cloud!"

"So you just come over to eat my food?" I asked leaning against our bar table before scooting into a barstool.

"That's what best friends do." He smiled placing a glass of lemonade in front of me. "So what's new?"

"Riku and Amanda broke up." I said bluntly taking a drink. Hie eyes widened.

"What? How? For those two it was like love at first sight." Cloud said leaning on the counter below.

"Yeah, well Amanda didn't feel the way she use–." That's when I just remembered. "Hey, wait a second, when you and Namine broke up, you called it off because of the distance and not feeling the same, right?"

"Correct, my dear friend." He nodded taking a drink of my lemonade.

"You should talk to Riku about your point of view. I heard Namine's also in town to visit her family and I'm sure she'll be able to come talk to him too. He's taking it pretty hard."

"I could do that. Call him up."

"He's in the other room. He's going to be living here for a while." I explained. Cloud nodded and walked into the other room. I quickly hurried and dialed Namine's number. She agreed and was at the apartment within ten minutes.

"Boys!" I called through the livingroom as Namine walked in with her long blonde hair thrown in a ponytail. "Come in the livingroom." Namine and I sat down together on couch. Sora, Cloud, and Riku walked in and sat around.

"What's going on?" Riku asked.

"Well, as you know, these two haven't been together for a while but they went through almost the same thing you and Amanda went through. I want you to listen to both of their points of view. They may help." I smiled leaning into Sora. He smiled down at me.

"Well, Riku," Cloud began. "It is hard at first, me being from Amanda's point of view. The thought of how to put it and making sure what you feel is right is so difficult. I wasn't sure how I was going to break it to Namine. I knew she would be better off and it would be the right thing.

"Talking to her was very difficult. I sat her down and explained the situation," I looked over at Namine to see her frown a little as she nodded. She obviously remembered and it must of hurt. Cloud continued on. "Namine of course cried and I was there to comfort her. She tried to talk me out of it but after a while of spending time together, she began to think of how this could benefit her."

"Which it did, over time of course." Namine took over. "After Cloud and I said our final goodbye, I went straight to Kairi's house crying. She of course helped talk me through it. It was still really painful though. I loved him and I just couldn't understand why he did that to me. I figured I was a pretty good girlfriend but I guess I wasn't good enough. We talked again the next day and decided we should spend sometime away from each other completely, no talking, nothing for a whole month. The time gave us realization of who we were without the other. We found ourselves."

"It was nice to have this time. After the month, my senses came to me and I knew that I didn't want Namine out of my life for good but I didn't really think it was best for us to be in a real committed relationship."

"I agreed to that when he explained it to me." Namine nodded looking at Cloud. "I realized that if I was in a too committed of a relationship, I wouldn't be able to accomplish what I needed and wanted to at my age. Although, since then, we have been closer. We talk often and help each other with everything and anything. It was probably the best move but it just took time to really understand that."

"Wow." Riku said rubbing the back of his head.

"See, they experienced it first handedly. This had to have helped you some how." Sora said looking at his best friend.

"It did." He nodded. "Thank you guys for doing this for me. It goes to show who really cares." Riku stood up and stretched. "I think I'm going to go take a shower." We all watched him walk into the bathroom that was placed in between the master bedroom and the guest bedroom.

"He seems to be taking it okay." Namine said taking out her hair tie. She ran her fingers through her long, soft, blonde hair.

"Remember though, he doesn't try to show much emotion." I reminded her.

"Well, do you two want to stay for dinner while you are here?" Sora asked standing up. The other two nodded. The four of us worked together to make spaghetti.

By the time dinner was ready, Riku was already asleep and we didn't want to wake him up. We sat around and talked about our other friends.

Roxas and Namine have finally found an apartment just a few streets away from us. Their move in date is set for September 4th.

Cloud and Aerith haven't moved into together and aren't planning to any time soon. They're liking their freedom and figured it would be good for them this way.

No one has really heard anything from Selphie or Irvine in about 4 months now but they seemed to be doing great in Balamb Garden. They're set for leave date is around Christmas and they said they were coming back here.

Namine told me that Yuna and Tidus were moving away in about two weeks which I had no idea about. They were so anxious to move, they're moving sooner then planned.

Since Tidus is moving soon, Wakka and Lulu are too. Lulu is already 3 months pregnant and is so excited about this new baby to come along. Never thought any of us would have kids any time soon.

Cloud told me that he's actually living with Josh, as of recently. Kyle and Chris are also going to be moving in soon. I smiled at that because I knew that would be hectic all the time.

Lissa, as any one of us have heard, was working hard with the others on the restoration committee. It was a great choice for her to work on.

Blake and Alexa are anxious to start their next and final year at Destiny High. They seem to be doing great as a couple.

No one still knows where Shawn is but Sora has seen him at the University. Sora is still attending the University of Destiny City and I'm heading there at the end of this month. I had finished my two years at the local smaller college.

"So when are you two supposed to get married?" Namine asked anxiously as we washed the dishes together. The boys went into the livingroom to watch some late night sports.

"Well Sora and I finally decided to get married in June sometime. We don't have an official date nor any special idea for it yet." I smiled.

"That's still so exciting about you two. I hope you guys last forever. You really deserve that a lot." She hugged me.

"Thank you." I laughed. "I am very happy with what's been going on between Sora and I. He's a great person to even just live with."

"I can't wait for the wedding, it'll be so exciting."

"Remember, Selphie's?" I asked scrubbing a plate with the rough side of the sponge.

_We were all anxious that school was starting up in about a month. Selphie encouraged all of us to attend a party at her house. The whole group was invited and informed to dress formally. There were lightly colored balloons in the front of her house and a large tent set up in the back. We were expecting to see more people at the party when we all walked in together, but it was only Selphie's family and Irvine's family. _

"_There you are!" Selphie ran down wearing a sleeveless, long, white dress and had her hair all done up. _

"_Hey." I smiled hugging her. "You can all go outside, there's food and drinks, but first, Kairi, Namine? Can I talk to you two alone?"_

"_Sure." Namine said. Selphie led us up to her room where it was all quiet. She shut the door behind us and looked at us anxiously. _

"_I have a huge speech that I want to give in a little while and I was hoping you two would stand up there with me?" She looked nervous. How could we not be there for a friend who's been there since Kindergarten._

"_Of course!" I said. _

"_Oh thank you!" Selphie pulled Namine and me into a huge bear hug. "Let's go, the party is waiting." The three of us walked down together outside where it was really formal. It was nice though. There was a random older gentleman who didn't look familiar to me standing under the tent. Selphie pulled Namine and me to where he was standing and Irvine met up with her. Leon, an old friend who graduated the year before us, and Cloud followed him. _

"_Can we all get your attention!" Irvine called out to quiet the crowd. Everyone looked up. "Thank you."_

"_We'd all like to thank you so much for being here." Selphie smiled taking Irvine's hands. "We have a little surprise for you today. We have no explanation for keeping this quiet, we just did. Today, Irvine and I are getting married and in a month, we'll be moving to Balamb Island."_

_I was shocked and by the look of everyone else's faces, they were too._

"That was a crazy day but I'm happy if she is." Namine said.

"Yeah, same here." I agreed.

"So are you and Sora doing it yet?" I was shocked that she was so blunt about it. I stopped and looked at her with wide eyes.

"Namine!" I said. "No, we're waiting until after we're married to have sex. We are very intimate but not _that _far." She only laughed.

"Well, I better get going, thank you so much for dinner." We both walked into the livingroom where Cloud decided to get ready to head to his parents house. The four of us walked to the door where we thanked each other for the others company. Sora and I waved off Namine and Cloud before closing the door. I leaned against it smiling.

"Today was quite interesting." I said. Sora placed his hands over my shoulders, against the door as he leaned in to kiss me.

"And now we're finally alone." He said pulling back with a smile before kissing me again.

"Well, not entirely." I said looking at the closed door that was concealing Riku.

"Let's go into our room then, he'll know not to come in if the door is closed." Sora said taking my hand and walking into the bedroom. He closed the door behind us and we both changed into our pajamas and hopped into bed. Just as things we were getting into the good part of living alone, there was a knock at the door. Sora looked at me and sighed. "The world is cruel." We both sat up and looked at the door.

"Yeah?" I called before the door slightly opened to reveal Riku with a long t-shirt and boxer shorts on.

"I just wanted to thank you guys again for everything. I really appreciate it." He said.

"Anytime Riku." I smiled at him.

"Goodnight."

"Night." Sora and I said in unison before the door was closed. We both looked at each other.

"Just because the door is closed, doesn't mean we won't get interrupted." I leaned over and kissed him. "Let's get some sleep."

"Okay..." He seemed bummed out. "Love you." Sora leaned over and turned off the light.

"Love you, too." I replied rolling over on my side.

"Night." He said into my ear and he cuddled up against me.

"Night." I replied quietly.

**A/N**: There you have it, the first actual chapter of Dear Diary 3. So what did you think? Thank you all for the reviews and sympathy of my aunt. We found out today that they won't do surgery because it's covered too much, she has about 6 months left to live. Thanks again guys.


	3. Awkward Situations

**Chapter 3**- Awkward Situations

_Namine, Selphie, and I were sitting at a small lunch table out in the play ground waiting for the bell to ring. Only one week left until school was out for summer and we'd be in the sixth grade and in middle school. The sun was shining bright but I hardly felt it knowing I was going to be moving in two weeks. Nothing seemed as good as it should have been with summer so near. _

"_It'll be okay, Kairi. We'll keep in touch!" Selphie assured me as she patted my back. I sat still and stiff with the same expression on my face. Without moving any other part of my body, my eyes wandered to look at her with doubt. _

"_You say it'll be okay, but no one has really been to Star City before. It might be horrible." I sighed finally breaking my stiff posture and leaned forward onto the table just as dully._

"_I looked up things online. It's just a lot bigger than Destiny City with a lot of tall buildings. You'll be okay there. I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends." Namine smiled from across the table. I stared at her and just sighed again. _

"_But I won't have you two." I said slightly annoyed. "I'm going to miss everything here. This is all I've ever known." _

"_I know, but we'll still be the best of friends!" Namine promised. Her eyes suddenly stopped looking at me with glee and looked up behind me with surprise. Selphie, who was sitting sideways on the same side of the table with me, looked up too. _

"_Um, Kairi?" I turned around not quite sure what to expect. Right behind me stood two boys. One was shorter than the other with spiked brown hair and big blue eyes. The other, taller, one had somewhat long silver hair and light blue eyes. I was stunned that Sora and Riku were there. I mean, yeah, we were friends and we talked and hung out a couple times, but something about this shocked me. Maybe the fact that Sora was holding a small present in his hand is what made me wonder about this. _

"_Hey, Sora. Hi, Riku." I smiled nervously. He smiled back and so did Riku. _

"_Hey," Sora said looking at the present then back at me. "I heard you were moving. I just wanted to give you a little going away present." He quickly lifted his hand up and held the bright orange wrapped gift to me. _

"_You didn't need to do that." I blushed looking down at it. My hand ran over the smooth paper. "Thank you, Sora." _

"_Well, I hope you enjoy living in Star City." Sora said waving. _

"_Bye, Kairi." Riku said as the two boys walked away toward the basketball courts. I watched them a little before I turned back around to the table. _

"_What did he get you?" Selphie asked curiously as she scooted closer to me. Namine leaned forward as I slowly unwrapped the orange paper. Soon a light blue covered book was laid out inside of it. At the top right hand corner in Old English, it had the word "Diary". _

"_Aw, that's nice of him." Namine said leaning in more to see the diary I had just received._

"_Yeah," I said looking down at it before looking to see Sora and Riku playing basketball. "It really was." The bell finally rang and everyone was in an uproar to soak up the last bit of sun before going back inside. I was in a trans watching the other side of the playground and that's when I saw Sora look up and smile. _

"Kairi, honey, wake up." Sora's voice wasn't as soft as it was in my dream but it was still soothing.

"What time is it?" I asked rolling over to face Sora. He was getting up out bed with his hair even more wild than normal and just his blue boxers on. I latched onto the pillow and snuggled into it.

"Eight." He said glancing at his clock and then facing me. "You need to get ready for work too missy."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I yawned rolling onto my back. "I had a dream about you."

"I could tell." Sora said leaning onto the bed to look at me better. My eyes wandered to him with a questioning look. "You were smiling." He smirked.

"I could have been smiling about something else, you know." I sat up smiling.

"Nah, not with that kind of smile." Sora got up and headed into our bathroom and closed the door behind him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I called back not getting a reply. I stretched and climbed out of bed before making it. The television was turned on in the livingroom and from what I could hear, it was sports. I put on my robe to cover my night gown and walked out of my room to see Riku shirtless with pajama bottoms on the couch. He turned and looked at me with a nod.

"Morning." He said sleepily.

"What are you doing up?" I asked looking at the clock on the wall. "You don't have to go to work until eleven."

"Yeah," Riku yawned. "Just woke up." He had been living with us for two weeks already and has yet to actually talk to Amanda; taking Cloud and Namine's advice. It seemed to be working but Riku swore not to see anyone quite yet and Amanda told me she wasn't ready to date yet either.

"What time do you get off tonight?" I decided to ask.

"I think nine or ten." He said flipping through the channels as Precious jumped onto the couch. She curled herself on the armrest. My eyes watched her settle down comfortably and drift to sleep.

"Oh," I replied and turned on my heel toward the bedroom again.

"Why?" I heard Riku ask curiously behind me as I put my hand on the doorhandle. I turned to face him with a small smile.

"Just a family get together tonight at my parents house. I just wanted to know if you wanted to go... your parents will be there too." I knew I probably shouldn't have brought up Riku's parents but maybe it could work for them to see each other, after all, it had been about a year.

Right after high school, Riku and his parents had a huge blow out about Riku not wanting to go to college. Of course almost all parents want the best for their kids and to continue their education but Riku didn't want the trouble of attending college when he had other plans. Riku had met the manager of the Paradise Bar and Grill about a month after we graduated. When the manager offered him a job as a waiter, Riku gladly accepted which really upset his parents when he told them he'd rather work then learn. The manager explained he would get great benefits and would be getting paid $14 an hour plus tips.

Most high school graduates would take the job up in a heartbeat and Riku tried to explain that to his mom and dad. Mr. and Mrs. Koru said that their son would make twice that if he would get a college degree which is pretty much true. The Koru's continued to fight and by the end of last summer, Riku moved out and they all stopped talking.

Riku looked at me with an indifferent look and turned to the television again.

"Well, um, I guess I'll talk to you later." I frowned and turned into the bedroom. I sat on the bed and waited for the shower to be free so I could get ready. The water turned off in the bathroom and not too long after, Sora emerged with a towel wrapped around his waist.

After getting ready, Sora went off to school and met up with me at work a few hours later. The day seemed long and over done and I was excited to get off by five. Sora and I drove over to my parents house after work.

"Kairi! Sora!" My mother was always energetic whenever we dropped by. She quickly pulled us into a tight hug.

"Hi mom." I smiled once she let go.

"Hello." Sora waved as he walked by into the kitchen.

"Everyone is in the backyard!" My mom called after him. She turned to face me and put her hand on my cheek. "Oh, honey, I'm so glad you're here."

"Mom," I laughed. "I love coming home. It's nice seeing you and dad."

"Speaking of your father, let's go outside so you two can see each other." I followed her out into the backyard to see Mr. and Mrs. Strife, Mr. and Mrs. Koru, my uncle John, my aunt Julie, Blake Strife, my cousin Alexa, Sora and my dad. I walked up and hugged my family.

"How's college going?" My uncle asked Sora as we sat down on some lawn chairs.

"It's good for me." Sora smiled. "It's just hard to do all the homework and then I also have work too." I looked over at Blake and Alexa right next to me.

"Hey, how's your senior year going so far?" I asked examining them closely. Blake looked practically identical to Cloud when Cloud was a senior and Alexa had grown out her pink streaked hair to just have dark brown hair.

"It's going good so far." Blake answered putting his hand on Alexa's.

"I think it'll be a great year for us." Alexa grinned happily. I smiled back at them before they went into their own conversation again. I looked over at Riku's parents who were talking with my mom. I got up and walked toward them.

"Hello, Kairi." Mrs. Koru said. Her once long blonde hair was now shorter and lighter. Her light blue eyes looked sad which unusual for her and her face was aging quicker then what should have been.

"Hi, Mrs. Koru." I leaned over and hugged her.

"How's Riku? I heard he was living with you." She asked putting her hand to her chest. Mr. Koru put his arm around his wife. He, too, was looking older for his age and it made me really sad.

"He's doing fine." I assured them. "I'm trying my best to have him at least talk to you. I'll keep trying. I know how much it means to you."

"Thank you, Kairi. You're sweet." Mr. Koru said as Mrs. Koru wiped a tear from her eye. I didn't want to be put in any more of an awkward situation, so I walked over to where my dad was.

"Hi daddy." I said hugging him again.

"Hey darling." My dad said kissing the top of my head. My mom came up from behind us and put my hand in hers.

"So have you decided a date for the wedding yet?" She asked. Sora walked up with his hands in his pockets.

"Not yet. We're thinking June though." He said with a nod.

"We really need to get some plans down." Just by listening to my mom talk about my wedding, made it seem that she was more excited about it then Sora and myself. "Let's go inside and see what we can do." My mom took both Sora and me by the hand and dragged us inside where we began to plan for the wedding. The three of us sat down together at the dinner table with a notepad in front of my mom and a pen in her hand.

"So..." Sora said looking around.

"Okay, how many people do you want at the wedding?" She stared down the blank notepad in front of her. Her long brown hair was tied up in a bun so it wouldn't fall in her face.

"Everyone close to us." I said.

"Okay," She wrote down what I had said. "Any ideas of where you want to have it?"

"We were thinking of having it at the beach house." Sora said looking at me. I nodded in agreement and so did my mom as she jotted it down.

"Who do you want as your bridesmaids, Kairi?"

"Uh," I had to really think about this. "Namine, Amanda, Selphie and Alexa."

"Sora? What about your groomsmen?"

"Well obviously, Riku. Then Cloud, Tidus, and Wakka." Sora declared. My mom, Sora, and I continued to go on about wedding plans and by the time we were done, it was all too overwhelming. We said our goodbyes to everyone and left around eight. The ride home was a quiet one and once we got in the house, Sora went straight to the room while I sat in the livingroom to play with Princess.

About a week had passed since the dinner get together at my parents house. Sora was kind of distant since we got back but I figured he was just tired, plus the idea of putting the whole wedding together was overwhelming. I was sitting at my desk at work putting some documents into the computer log when a coworker of mine appeared in front of me.

I looked up at her with a blank expression. Her dark red hair was longer then it was back in high school. She still had those intense gray-green eyes that annoyed me. Her hand reached up and tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear as she handed me a newspaper and a few folders.

"Kairi." She said dully; her lips thin and eyes narrowed.

"Amber." I said in the same tone. She quickly turned on her heal and walked away toward the elevators. I knew she hated having to come up to the 58th floor from the 57th knowing she worked under me which caused me to smile. My eyes wandered to what she had handed me.

I placed the manilla folders into the box which goes directly to Sora. Since I finished the work I needed to get done for the time being, I opened up the newspaper to find something interesting. A few school updates, the weather, what movies were playing, and then the small little article on the fourth page caught my eye.

_September 21 through September 25, Speak publishing company will be looking for new talent. If you are a writer and are looking to be found, send a short story to the address below in between the dates listed above. Only 100 participants will be contacted by Speak and be asked to write another story which the company will seek the top 50 from. They will keep contacting the top stories until 25, then ten, five, and finally one winner will be picked by June 2010 and their story will be published by Speak. They're looking forward to see something new. _

My heart began pounding with excitement. I couldn't believe it! This was the perfect opportunity for me to break out and become what I've always wanted to be. I could not wait to tell everyone about this. The only problem now was deciding what to enter into the contest.

---

"Should it be something fictional or something true?" I decided to ask Amanda, who I was on the phone with. I was at home looking through all my story notebooks and files on my computer.

"Fictional." She said instantly. "It'll make it more interesting to the publishers. Plus, if you make it to the second round, you can always write something true then."

"Good logic." I said looking through the notebooks I've had since high school.

"Thank you." Amanda laughed. I laughed back in reply.

"Hey, so I'm making dinner tonight, you wanna come?"

"What time?"

"Around eight." I looked at the clock to see that it was almost five so I still had some time to get ready and pick out a story.

"Sure." She replied. "I'll be there a little before. I got to get going though, promised my parents I'd help around the house."

"Okay, see you then." We both hung up the phone at the same time. I sat down in my computer chair and stared at the screen. Writing this fictional story I wrote in my notebook seemed a lot more complex than it did when I first wrote it.

Just as I placed my fingers on the keyboard, Princess started barking. Sora walked inside with a yawn. I watched him enter the house, close the door behind him, and walk into the bedroom where he closed the door. Princess stood staring where the bedroom door had closed in her face. It obviously didn't effect her since she kept wagging her tail excitedly.

I got up from the chair and walked to my bedroom door. As soon as I opened the door, Princess bolted onto the bed and started to lick Sora. He sat up and lightly pushed her back. She was still very hyper.

"Hey." I said quietly as I leaned against the doorframe. Sora looked from the television up at me.

"Hi." He replied before looking back at the screen. I moved across the room and sat on my side of the bed. Princess moved to the bottom and laid down.

"How was your day?" I said moving in closer to him.

"Fine. Yours?" He didn't even look at me.

"Good." I frowned. "Guess what?"

"Hum?" Sora managed with little interest.

"Speak publishing company is hosting a little contest. They're going to pick 100 of the best entries and continue to hold the contest with the winners until they finally pick one. Whoever wins will have their story published." Just the thought of this made me smile again. Sora looked over at me with a small smile.

"You should do it. It seems like a great opportunity." He nodded patting my leg.

"It is. I'm so excited." I leaned in and kissed him. "Would you read the story I enter before I send it in?"

"Sure." Sora said as I got up. "Where is it?"

"I still have to type it up. It'll be a couple days."

"Okay." He gave one nod and turned to the TV again. I smiled and walked out of my room back to my computer to begin working on the story.

---

"Kairi, Amanda is here!" Sora called from the living room. I was in the kitchen cooking the pasta. I peeked around the corner to see Amanda walking toward me.

"Hiya." She smiled as she leaned against the wall in the kitchen.

"Hey hey." I grinned.

"How are you?"

"I'm doing pretty good." I said stirring the noodles in the boiling water. "What about you?"

"Fine. Just tired from all the house work. I'm so ready to move out already." Amanda laughed. I looked up at her and stuck out my tongue.

"I'm sure it's not all that bad." She shrugged when I heard the front door open. I looked out into the living room to see Riku walk in with Roxas. Sora waved them over to the couch.

"Who is it?" Amanda asked. I turned to face her. It had been three weeks since Riku and Amanda's break up and they still have yet to talk about what happened and what's going to happen to them.

"Um, Riku and Roxas." I said nervously.

"He's still living here?" She whispered. I nodded. Amanda fell silent and took in a deep stuttered breath. Her dark brown eyes became distant as she went into deep thought. The only thing making noise in the kitchen now was the boiling water on the stove. The time seemed to move slower than normal as I watched Amanda intensely. Within a few seconds though, Roxas came into the kitchen. He stopped and looked at Amanda and me.

"Hey, Roxas." I said after a couple seconds in silence.

"Hey, Kai, Amanda." He nodded. His blond hair was a little longer than it was in high school and his eyes were still the same. "Um, does Riku know you're here?"

"No." Amanda replied quietly.

"Oh, dang." Roxas said placing his hand on the counter.

"Riku was supposed to be working late tonight." I said just loud enough for the two in the kitchen to hear me.

"He was but I guess his boss said that the one who called in sick showed up." He said.

"Well, I was going to have to eventually face him." Amanda spoke up.

"Do you want me to tell him that you're here?" Roxas pointed his thumb behind him. She quickly shook her head no. He nodded and went to retrieve a soda from the fridge before walking back into the living room.

"I'm sorry." I said stirring the noodles again. She leaned back against the counter and brushed her brown hair out of her face.

"Don't be. It's not you're fault. Like you said, you thought he was working."

"I know, but still."

"Everything will be okay." I smiled at her but she wasn't looking. Riku never came into the kitchen which I guess was good because I wasn't sure Amanda was as ready as she kept saying she was. Finally, about half an hour later, the food was ready to be served. Amanda helped bring out the plates into the diningroom. Riku wasn't in the living room which was in plain sight from the diningroom table.

"Uh... oh." Sora said as he walked over to see Amanda. "Riku doesn't know you're here."

"We know." I said. "Where is he?"

"Bathroom." Roxas said sitting down next to Amanda. Sora sat at the head of the table and I sat across from Roxas. The bathroom door opened and Riku walked out pulling his hair back. He didn't even look up at the table when he finally sat down. Although, when he looked up to see who was sitting right in front of him, he was in shock. The silence hit us like a power outage.

**A/N**: sorry it took so long. If any of you read on my freewebs site, you know what was wrong and what couldn't keep me focused. Anyway, for those of you who have myspace, the Dear Diary myspace site is up and the address is on the home page of freewebs. Check it out and add if you want! All updates are noted from both websites. Thank you all for reading!


	4. Crawling In The Dark

**Chapter 4**- Crawling In The Dark

(Sora's Point of View)

I stared at Riku and Amanda wondering what was going to happen. Kairi looked really anxious about the situation. Not a word was said between any of us; that's when it happened. Riku gave Amanda one simple nod before turning to me.

"Can you pass the salad?" He asked reaching over my plate. Kairi let out a breath that she was holding in. Amanda looked at her and then at her drink. So anticlimactic. I took hold of the plastic salad bowl and passed it to Riku.

"Are you kidding me?" Roxas said in an irritated voice. We all looked at him. I gave him a questioning look. "Riku," he pointed toward him with one hand and then used the other to point toward Amanda. "You're not even going to say hello?"

"I think you two should talk. It's been almost a month." Kairi said frowning a little.

"I agree." I said nodding as I leaned back a little. "You two need to talk. It's about time."

"Not now." Amanda said looking at me. "Let's just eat dinner."

"What?" Riku asked setting his fork down on his plate and looked at her. "You don't want to talk?"

"Let's just eat dinner, Riku. It's not the time to be talking about this."

"But they want us to." There was tension building in the air quickly as those two began to glare at each other. Roxas, Kairi, and I just watched back and forth.

"Yes. They do." She replied matter-of-factly. "Doesn't mean they want us to discuss it right this second."

"We might as well." Riku crossed his arms and stared at her.

"Riku. Just eat your dinner. They invited us here to eat, not to argue or talk."

"They didn't invite me. I live here."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I agreed, that was a pretty dumb statement for Riku.

"It doesn't."

"Then why did you say it?"

"Because I wanted to."

"Riku. Shut up."

"Make me."

"You're acting like such a little kid!"

"Whatever. You're the one who won't talk to me about what happened between us." He said standing up. Amanda did the same and pointed at him.

"You know what-."

"Sora!" Kairi quickly stood up. "Can I have a word with you in the kitchen?"

"Sure." I said standing up. I followed Kairi into the kitchen and as soon as we were far from the entry of it, she quickly turned to face me.

"This is a disaster!" She said in a panicked whisper.

"Well, what are we going to do?" I asked knowing she'd have something in mind.

"Hum..." She looked up and went into deep thought. It didn't take long for her to figure out what she wanted to do about our friends though. "I got it!" Kairi whispered into my ear what we were going to do. After a little bit of a discussion, we walked back into the diningroom where Roxas was telling the punch line to one of his jokes.

"And the penguin said, " How did I end up in this tux!" Ha, ha! Get it?" Roxas was laughing at his own joke but no one else was. Riku and Amanda were both sitting down in their seats, arms crossed, and a glare at each other. "Fine." Roxas soon joined in on the crossed arms and glaring contest.

"Amanda, can I come talk to you?" Kairi said to Amanda who nodded. The two walked into our bedroom without closing the door.

"Riku, follow me." I said motioning Riku to get up. He sighed and followed me into his bedroom. He sat down on his bed and I leaned in the doorway.

"What?" He asked annoyed.

"Look, you two need to just let the other one speak. Stop acting so immature." I replied.

"Sora, don't start with me." He glared.

"Riku, just think about what happened. Slightly childish back there." He rolled his eyes. "You two really need to talk and stop acting like a bunch of high schoolers."

"Amanda, you two really need to talk it out calmly." Kairi's voice traveled behind me. I stepped aside outside the room where Amanda and Kairi were walking by. That's when we did it. Kairi pushed Amanda into Riku's room and I closed the door behind them and held the doorknob. Two bodies hit the other side of the door and started pounding.

"Kairi! Sora! Let us out!" Amanda yelled.

"This isn't funny!" Riku said.

"This is what you two get." Kairi yelled back. "Now get talking!"

"Let us out!" They yelled in unison.

"No!" We yelled back.

"Kairi, we should talk about something that's been on my mind for a while." I said putting her hand in mine. Her brows furrowed as she looked at me with concern filling her eyes.

"Okay." She nodded. We sat down on the couch and I still held her hand in mine. I didn't know how I was going to say this but it was killing me and it needed to be said. "What is it?"

"Kairi, you know I love you to death, but I think we need to take a break. We've been together for so long, we're still so young. Maybe a month or a few weeks away from each other will make it feel like new." I said wanting to bite my tongue as the words spilled out. I had no idea how she was going to react.

"Wha…" She was speechless.

"I'm sorry, but it's for the best right now. I have a lot going on."

"I hate you." It was in a low, quiet, deathly tone. Kairi pulled her hand away from mine and stood up.

"What?" I was shocked.

"I hate you, Sora! Don't expect us to get back together. The wedding is off! I want you out of my life!" She screamed with so much anger that I couldn't believe it was happening. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes as she ran toward the door. "I hate you!" She cried out one last time before slamming the door behind her.

My eyes jolted open. I could feel my heart beating deep inside my chest. It was still dark outside. I leaned over to see that it was only two in the morning. Kairi was sound asleep next to me. I let out a sigh and went into the living room.

I went to get a glass of water before settling down on the couch with my feet at the edge of the coffee table. There wasn't anything on this late at night so I resulted in watching some late night music videos. Riku's bedroom door creaked open. I watched him emerge out of his room and walk toward me.

"I hate you." He said crossing his arms, obviously still annoyed about earlier.

"Shut up." I said turning back to the tv.

"What are doing up?" Riku sat down on the opposite side of the couch from me. "Don't you have school in like 6 hours?"

"Yeah, but I had a bad dream."

"About what?"

"How Kairi will react when I tell her we need to take a break." I sighed.

"How bad did it go?"

"Absolute disaster." I took the pillow next to me and shoved it to my face. "Why is this so difficult?"

"Because you love her." Riku said casually. I slid the pillow off my face to my lap. "So when are you planning on telling her?"

"I have no idea." I took in a deep breath. "But I don't want to dread about it too much longer…"

I finally managed to fall back asleep, but on the couch. Of course Kairi wondered why she woke up not to find me. Another lie only added on. My head was completely congested at school. The thought of my dream with the lack of sleep didn't help me any. Finally, about 12:15 I was done with classes. I still had to go to work, but at least I could hide away in my office. I was walking out to my car when I bumped into someone.

"Sorry." I mumbled looking up. I take it back, I wasn't sorry.

"We meet again." Shawn crossed his arms. He was my height exactly now. His dark blond hair looked just as wilds as mine, just a little shorter. Other then that, he looked like a 20-year-old should. "How long has it been since we last saw each other?"

"Not long enough."

"Agreed. Are you married yet?"

"No."

"I had a feeling you two wouldn't last." He chuckled.

"Shut your face, Shawn. We've been together for four years and we're getting married in June."

"It won't last. Kairi has needs and something in your voice tells me something isn't right. I'm right, aren't I?" A satisfied smirk grew on his face.

"Stay out of my business." I was getting mad now.

"Oh, temper, temper Sora." Shawn said calmly. "Don't take your personal problems out on me."

I let out a deep grumble and walked passed him taking heavy steps.

"Make the right choices!" He called out to me. I was about to completely snap. By the time I got to work I was already beyond annoyed. I tried not to let show when Kairi greeted me.

"Hey you." She smiled softly pulling me into a hug.

"Hi." I said hugging her back.

"How are you?" She asked.

"Fine." I was completely monotone. I could tell by the look on her face that she knew something was up. "You?"

"Um, I'm alright. How was school?"

"Fine. Work?"

"Alright." I could already see this pattern and it wasn't helping my annoyance any.

"I'm going to get started on the documents." I said walking passed her into my office where I shut the door behind me. This wasn't my day at all.

---

"Sora, Roxas is here." Kairi said knocking on the bedroom door. I sat up and saw Roxas enter the room.

"Hey." My cousin said sitting on the love seat we had at the end of the room.

"What's new?" I asked turning off the TV.

"Nothing really. Namine and I finally officially moved in all of our crap into the apartment." He shrugged.

"It's about time."

"Yeah." Roxas stretched out on the couch. "So have you talked to Kairi at all yet?"

"No. It's really hard to even bring it up."

"How long have you been thinking about this?"

"I don't know, maybe about a month or two."

"And you still haven't said anything at all?" Roxas was shocked. I shook my head and frowned a little.

"I shouldn't be doing this but I can't help it." I sighed throwing myself back into the pillows.

"Have you been acting different around Kairi?" I nodded and sank my head deeper. "What are you honestly waiting for, Sora?"

"I want her to be the one to make the break. I don't want to be the bad guy."

"Too late. Just by doing this, you are already the bad guy."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically. "That really helped me out."

"Sora, why do you want to take the break?"

"Because I'm not quite sure I'm happy. I mean, I love her to death, don't get me wrong. I just think we need some time to just be two individual people. We've been a couple for over four years now and we haven't really spent too much time apart. We even lived together back in high school up until now. It can get to be too much, you know?" I stared up at the ceiling thinking about what I was saying.

"Who else knows that you want to do this?"

"Riku and you. I think Shawn has a hunch."

"What does Shawn have to do with this?" I could sense the irritation in Roxas's voice. I sat up and looked at him.

"I ran into him today at school. You should have heard him," I said shaking my head. ""It won't last. Kairi has needs and something in your voice tells me something isn't right. I'm right, aren't I?" It was so obnoxious of him. I can't take this anymore. It's starting to eat me up inside. It hurts even more to see Kairi's face knowing I'm going to hurt her any day now." Roxas stood up from the loveseat.

"Pack up some clothes. You're going to stay in our spare room at the apartment." He said.

"What about Kairi and Riku?" I asked standing up.

"Riku can take care of Kairi. Now, let's go." Roxas walked across the bedroom to the door. He waited for me to gather a couple outfits, my toothbrush and hairbrush before we walked out into the living room with my bag slung over my shoulder.

Kairi and Riku were both sitting on the couch with ice cream bowls in their laps watching some movie. They both looked up at Roxas and me.

"Where are you going?" Kairi asked standing up; placing the ice cream bowl on the coffee table.

"I'm going to spend the night at Roxas's apartment for a couple nights. I'll come back home. I promise." I walked over and kissed her on the forehead.

"Um okay." That was all I heard as my cousin and me walked to the front door.

"Bye." I waved closing the door. Kairi frowned and that was the last thing I saw before stepping into the cold night.

**A/N**: Ah, so now we know the truth. For those of you who know me personally or have been reading the progress section on the Dear Diary website, you know that my boyfriend and I went through this and this is what inspired me to write this. It obviously wasn't exactly like this since we don't live together and we've been together for over a year, not four. Welp, there's Sora's side of the situation. Reviews are ubber nice of you, so you should send one (yup.. considering I didn't get as many for last chapter as I have for all my other chapters. -Plus, it'll be a nice 18th birthday present for me( October 12th)-smiles-)


	5. How It Happened

**Chapter 5**- How It Happened

Once Sora closed the door and left to go stay with Roxas and Namine, I slumped down into the couch. I grabbed what was left of my ice cream and stuffed the spoon in my mouth. I tried to continue watching the mystery movie with Riku, but something was on my mind. I dropped my spoon in the bowl and slid the bowl on the table with a loud clink. Riku looked at me with his spoon dangling out of his mouth. I shifted to face him.

"Riku," I sighed turning down the volume. "Can I ask you something?'

"Um, sure." Riku placed his bowl on the table and sat up. "What is it?"

"What's up with Sora?" I asked. Riku didn't' answer right away and I knew that wasn't a good sign. "Riku?"

"Look, it's not between the three of us. It's between Sora and you. I'm sure whatever's on his mind will be spoken eventually. Don't worry, Kairi. Try not to dwell on whatever is bothering Sora. He'll deal with it."

"But he used to always come to me if something was on his mind." I couldn't help it; all these emotions suddenly started to build inside. "Riku, I'm scared."

"Kairi, don't be." Riku pulled me close and hugged me tight. Tears found their way to my cheeks. "Sora, he really does love you. Whatever happens, happens."

"I know, but it's still so hard." I choked out. "He's been acting so strange lately. He's not the same. I'm scared he doesn't want to be with me anymore." It all came out at once. My body went into a fit of shakes as I cried my heart out into Riku's arms. He tried to hush me and calm me down. It would work for a bit until the thought of Sora leaving me rushed into my head.

---

_Dear Diary,_

_Something's been changing in my life and I'm not sure how to take it all in. Sora and I are going through something, I can feel it. Riku tells me not to worry about it but my heart can sense it. We're still so young and I know this is just plain lucky to have made it this far. I love him to death and I'm so scared to have my heartbroken again. I trust Sora but something is up and I wish he would just come talk to me about it. I want us to last forever. I'm supposed to spend forever with him. My future involves him, it has for so long. I just wish I knew what was going on._

_Love always, Kairi_

It was weird to wake up and not find Sora here. Riku had already left for work and it was my day off. I sat at my computer chair and stared at my recent diary entry. This wasn't how I wanted to spend my only day off this week. I turned off my computer and decided to see if Amanda and Namine wanted to hang out.

I met up with the two at Town Square since Amanda had to work in a few hours. We decided to have lunch at The Flowering Tree Café outside.

"So, what's new?" Namine asked sipping on her water.

"You already know." I sighed folding the corners of my napkin.

"I'm sorry, Kairi." She reached over and hugged me while I tried to hold back from crying.

"What happened?" Amanda asked either of us anxiously.

"Sora is staying at our apartment for a few days." Namine answered for me.

"What? Why!"

"I don't know." I whispered.

"Do you?" Amanda looked at Namine.

"Roxas and Sora always talk in private." She shrugged. "Every time I ask either of them what's up, they both reply 'It's a guy thing'." I slapped the edge of the table out of frustration causing the items on it to rattle. Amanda and Namine sat in silence just watching me.

"Sorry."

"So, um, did you find a story you're going to submit yet?" Amanda asked, quickly changing the subject, which in ways I was quite thankful for.

"Still looking. I have a little while longer. I just hope I pick a good enough one."

"You're stories are beyond amazing. They'll be idiots if you're not picked." Namine said. Amanda nodded in agreement.

"Thanks." I smiled slightly. Our waitress came out with our food. Amanda and Namine talked mainly and tired their best to include me, but I just couldn't focus. I had other things on my mind; a memory was lingering in my brain.

"_Life in high school is completely different from being a kid." Sora said as he flipped through some of my CD's on the floor of my room. He was leaning back against the edge of my bed. I was on my stomach on my bed, with my head near Sora's so we could talk easily. _

"_I know! I miss being a kid. Life was so easy back then." I frowned as I watched CD after CD switching off in Sora's hands. _

"_What do you think the future holds?" He turned and looked at me. Of course him just focusing his attention on me, even for a little bit, was overwhelming, in a good way. I smiled at him as he handed me a CD of his choice. I got up and put it in before taking my spot on my bed. _

"_Who really knows, honestly." I shrugged as he stared at me. "Everything is really unpredictable, especially after high school." _

"_Thank goodness we still have this year and senior year to finish before we take on that challenge." He grinned. I couldn't help but laugh. _

"_Yeah, thank goodness." I agreed. "But we still have to finish these years too. A lot can change within a week let alone a year. Friends are always going to come and go, along with people you wish you never met."_

"_Hopefully our friendship will always be strong." _

"_I really hope so." I loved hearing that Sora wanted to be friends forever, but it was killing me since I wanted so much more out of this. I wasn't going to complain though. _

"_Oh, this is a good song." Sora said looking at the stereo. "Tonight" by FM Static began to play. Sora and I sat there in silence and listened to the song for a little while. Every so often, I could see him mouthing the words then look at me smiling. I could always feel my face become a little warm as I smiled shyly at him. "So what do you want to do with your life?"_

"_I don't know really. I know I want to finish college and become an author and just have a semi-fairytale life. You know, the decent sized house, a wonderful, loving husband with children. Just something every girl dreams of when she's young."_

"_That sounds nice." He nodded leaning back on his hands. _

"_What about you?"_

"_Go to the University of Destiny Islands, go into some business and make it good." He laughed. "But of course I want to get married and have a family. That'd be nice."_

"_Aw, that sounds really good." I smiled. "Hopefully both of our dreams come true."_

"_I really hope so. I'd do anything to achieve my goals in life. That's pretty much what we live for, right?" _

"_So true." _

"_We'll make it." Sora winked. "We'll conquer the world, together." He extended his hand out to me. I grinned and shook his hand. _

"Kairi!" Namine was waving her hand in front of my face which snapped me out of my staring faze. My eyes looked at her. "Something wrong?"

"No. I'm just a little out of it, that's all." I said beginning to eat my lunch.

---

A couple weeks had passed and nothing seemed to improve. I'd see Sora at work and it was strictly business. At home, he'd always find a way to be busy with either hanging with the guys or school work. At night, he'd go to bed when he thought I was asleep. When I try to be with him, there's always an excuse. If only he would realize I cried my self to sleep each night.

"Kairi." His voice was barely audible. I was curled up on the couch, reading a book with Princess. It was my first day off with Sora in a while. He was standing near the couch after being barricaded in the bedroom since early this morning. I looked up at him. His eyes seemed heavy and tired, and just a mess in general.

"Yeah?" I replied in almost a whisper.

"Can we talk?"

"Of course." I sat up and made room for him to sit with me. Maybe he was going to apologize finally. He took a deep breath in. We were left in a couple seconds of silence while he gathered his thoughts.

"I bet you've been wondering why I've been so distant from you lately." He couldn't look me in the eye for more than a glance.

"That would be nice to know."

"Well, I think I need more time to grow up. We're still really young and I still feel like I need to enjoy life to the fullest without worrying if I'm going to hurt you or something." I could tell he had been thinking about this a long time. My stomach seemed to do flips as tears filled the rims of my eyes.

"What are you trying to tell me?" A lone tear dripped onto the back of my hand. Sora quickly reached for my hand and wrapped it tightly with his.

"I do want to be with you, because I really do love you. I just think we should take a break for a month or so. It's like that saying 'you never know what you have until it's gone'." Too bad I already knew what I had. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I released my hand from his to wipe the tears that seemed to shower down now. "I'm okay." '_Liar_' I told myself.

"So, what do you think?" He really wanted this. I don't know what he planned to do without me that he couldn't do already. It's not like I'm strict or overpowering. If it was hanging out with his friends, he already had it. If it was seeing other girls, I sure hope not. He wasn't the type... I think, I hope.

"Sure. Whatever you want." I choked on my tears. I got up and went straight into the bedroom, locking the door behind me. I heard a light knock with Sora trying to call me, but I ignored him and went into the bathroom. I let all my sadness and anger out as I watched my face in the mirror change from composed to a wreck. I stayed in there for about half an hour crying before walking out in the livingroom where Sora was waiting for me.

"We don't need to do this if it bothers you this much." Sora's face was somber now.

"No, we'll do it. I'll do it for you." My eyes were focused on my twisting hands. He walked over and hugged me and I quickly returned it, only to cry more.

"Thank you." He whispered in my ear before letting go. "I'll go pack."

"No." I stopped him and looked at him as I wiped my eyes again. "You stay here with Riku. I'll go live with my parents." I walked into the bedroom and began packing all my essentials. It didn't take me too long before I returned into the livingroom again.

"I'll help you to your car." Sora took my things and we walked out to the parking lot. We put my bags into the backseat and Sora opened the drivers seat door for me and waited until I was buckled up.

"Thanks." I frowned.

"Drive safely." Sora seemed sad now. I nodded and he closed the door. We waved goodbye and watched me pull out. As soon as I drove down the street and he was out of sight, the tears flowed uncontrollably.

---

About forty minutes later, through heavy traffic, I made it to my parents house. They had no idea that I was coming and I sure was hoping they wouldn't mind me staying for who knows how long. I parked my car in front of the house and gathered my two bags from the backseat. I sniffled a couple of times as I made my way up the side walk. A lot of memories were left at this house. I put my bags down and lightly knocked on the door. Shortly after, the door swung open to reveal my mom.

"Kairi!" She quickly embraced me. "What are you doing here?"

"Sora and I are taking a break for a while. Is it okay if I stay here for the time being?" I asked quietly.

"Oh honey, of course." My mom picked up one of my bags and I picked up the other. We walked inside and my mom called for my dad.

"What's wrong?" My dad came over and hugged me. I made the explanation for me being at their house short. I didn't feel like going through what I had been through the last month. My dad did not look too pleased and my mom looked heartbroken. Both of my parents helped me to my old room. Once we arrived to the second floor, my mom and dad went back downstairs to make me a late lunch. I closed the door behind my parents and took in the familiar place.

Everything was pretty much the same in here. The only things that were missing are the little touches of pictures that I used to have and the energy that used to fill this place. I sat on my old bed and looked at my window that faced Shawn's parents house. I could still remember when it was Sora's house. That's when the memories of when he told me he loved me came flooding back.

"_Kairi." Sora said quietly. I turned to face him, still smiling. "I have to tell you something." I looked at him, my smile slowly fading._

"_What is it?" I asked holding onto his hand._

"_It's nothing bad, don't worry." He said with a smile, "I'm just nervous about how you'll react."_

"_Then tell me." I said reassuringly._

"_Well, ever since 5th grade, I've had a crush on you. I wanted to tell you so bad, but when I found out you were moving, I figured it wouldn't matter. I gave you that diary, so hopefully you would write about me. Of course I never would know if you would or not. I wrote something to you on the last page. Did you read that?" Sora said._

"_I didn't even know you wrote me." I said. "You really had a crush on me?" He nodded. "You should have told me!"_

"_Sorry it took awhile. I was scared. But I will tell you now that the crush hasn't really disappeared. I don't know if it's really a crush or not though." Sora said._

"_Huh? What do you mean you don't know if it's a crush or not?" I asked confused. Sora leaned over to me and lightly kissed my lips. I felt weak at his touch, how typical. He pulled away and placed his hand on my cheek._

"_I think I love you Kairi. I know I don't know what love is, I don't think anyone really does anymore, but I have a strong gut feeling that I do love you." Sora said so sweetly. My heart was beating faster. I felt the same way! I wrapped him in a hug._

"_I think I love you too Sora." I whispered. He kissed my head. I was so happy. We pulled away from the hug. The sun was getting ready to set. I rested my head on his shoulder, holding his hand. He wrapped his other arm around me. We watched the sun go down in complete silence, besides the crashing of the waves below. Soon the night's stars danced above our heads. He decided to walk me home. We walked hand in hand the whole way there. "Thanks for the wonderful day." I said at the doorstep._

"_Anytime." Sora replied._

I wiped away a tear as I forcefully laid back onto my old bed. It wasn't fair that this happened and part of me began to hate Sora. I was mixed in feelings of love and hate and I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. What I did know though, was that I couldn't be the same around him. I was going to have to change my attitude at work. He is no longer my fiancé, but my boss. Things were going to be different from now on and that's what was killing me.

My phone rang and I looked to see who it was, secretly hoping it was Sora. It was Cloud. I wanted to pick it up but I knew he was going to know something was wrong.

"Hello?" I said softly as I sat up.

"Hey Kairi." He knew. It was that obvious. "I heard what happened." A tear crept down my cheek and I began to sniffle.

"Gosh," I tried to laugh but it didn't work. "Nothing's changed since high school. Everyone still seems to know everything in a matter of a couple hours." More tears were streaming down my face. I reached over for the tissues that were on the old dresser I used to put my diary in. "How'd you find out?"

"Riku. He called and told me to check up on you because him and Sora were going out."

"Going out where?" I asked anxiously. I don't know why, but it just made me nervous.

"He didn't say." Cloud replied. That's when it all happened. I crashed. I curled up into a ball as the tears flowed by free will.

"Cloud." I said through my clenched teeth and I tried to hold back the hurt. "I can't do this! I hurt so bad! Why did he have to do this to me! Why do I have to be the one to suffer! I don't want to be me anymore!"

"Kairi," His voice became sincere. "Shh. It will be okay. Things will get better."

"How! When!" I was screaming through all the tears. It hurt so bad and I never though I'd feel this way. "I love him and he claims to love me but he's hurting me so bad! He promised he'd never hurt me!" I began the uncontrollable crying fit with the hic-up like breathing.

"He loves you, Kairi. He just needs time to think it through. Give time a chance."

"But I hurt..." I whispered.

"I know. I know." It always seemed weird to me when Cloud got this way. This also didn't help though. It made me wish he was here to comfort me. I didn't want to be alone and I think he knew that too. "Why don't you call someone to spend the night with you. You shouldn't have to go through this alone tonight."

"I'll try to get a hold of someone." I was wiping the tears away angrily.

"I wish I could stay on the phone with you until you felt better, but I have to get to class now. I'll call you tonight to check up. It'll be okay, I swear." Cloud said calmly.

"Thank you."

"Of course. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and turned it on silent. I crawled under the covers and snuggled close into the pillows. My body was worn out but I knew I wasn't done crying. Eventually, I cried myself to sleep.

**A/N**: Wow, that took too long to updated. I'm sorry it took so long guys! Thank you for all the reviews, seriously! The reason it took so long was this whole similar thing to me, it was hard to try to feel the way I did the night that my boyfriend said he wanted a break because lately everything has been so perfect between us, it's almost unreal. School also kept me on my feet but semester is done for a while so hopefully I can update again before I go back. Thanks again for the reviews and thanks for sticking around!


	6. The Edge of Regret

**Chapter 6**- The Edge of Regret

(Sora's Point of View)

Riku and I got into his truck and drove down to where our old neighborhood was. Just a few streets away from our old houses, we stopped and parked in a vacant dirt area. We both got out without saying a word and headed down the street. Finally, the little clearing showed up in the bushes and trees. Riku led the way to the secret beach we all used to hang out at. None of us had really visited this place since before graduation. As soon as I saw the clear blue water and familiar area we used to enjoy, I instantly remembered something.

_It was sometime before Valentines Day our Junior year. I was really sick and trying to sleep when my bedroom door opened. I figured it was my mom, plus I was way too exhausted to open my eyes. I felt weight on my bed and someone lean over. I didn't move. That's when I heard my mom at my door. _

"_Poor thing, he has had a bad fever since last night." I heard her say. She walked away after just a couple seconds. When I realized it wasn't my mom, I tried to think of who it could be. It could have been Riku to pick on me for missing out on the beach day. A cool, soft hand fell over my cheek and that's when I knew who it was._

"_I just came to tell you something, but I don't want to disturb you." I heard Kairi say in almost a whisper. "You look so peaceful, so I guess I'll wait." Her had was replaced by a delicate kiss and a few footsteps out of my room followed by the door closing. I was left in silence. _

_I slowly opened my eyes and gathered up as much strength as I could, which took a couple minutes. I got out of bed and looked out my window toward Kairi's house. Her bedroom light turned off. I reached for my cell phone at the end of my bed and returned to the window dialing her number. Just before I dialed the last number, she walked out the front door. That's when I got the idea to call Cloud up. _

"_Hello?" He answered just after two rings. _

"_Cloud, it's Sora." My voice was nasally. I hated being sick. _

"_Oh, hey, how are you feeling?"_

"_Slowly getting better. Can I ask you a favor?" I started to pick up my pace and get out of my pajamas and into some clothes._

"_Sure, what is it?" _

"_Can I say I'm spending the night at your house?"_

"_Um, sure." _

"_Thanks, I'll explain later!" I hung up the phone and hurried down the stairs. At the last step, I clung to the wall with one hand and the other to my face. "Oh, wow, I'm dizzy." I pulled it together and asked my mom if I could go to Cloud's house. She didn't seem to willing since I was sick, but just one glance of the sad, pouty lip from her only son, I was able to leave. Once I was outside, I looked down the end of the street to see Kairi turn right. It was hard to follow her, but I managed. I saw her sit on the beach with her legs pulled to her chest. I quietly walked over and sat next to her. _

"_Oh, my gosh, what are you doing here?" It looked as if she had just seen a ghost. I couldn't help but laugh at her reaction. I explained myself and she nodded. "Oh, so are you going to spend the night at Clouds?" I shrugged. _

"_So what is it that you wanted to tell me?" I asked curiously. Kairi wasn't quick to answer. It seemed as though she was really considering if she wanted to tell me or not._

"_Okay, remember how you said you've liked me since fifth grade?" I nodded. "Well, I've liked you since third grade, yeah I know that's a long time to like someone. I've had other crushes between then, but you were the only one I couldn't manage to escape from. Well, when you told me last week that you loved me, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. You don't know how much that meant to me. Sora, I love you, I love you so so much."_

"_I love you too, Kairi." I was excited to hear that and if I weren't sick, it would have been easier to show it. I knew she wanted to tell me more though. She took in a deep breath. _

"_Well, since we both love each other and care so much about one another. Okay, before I say anymore, I know it's pretty customary for the guy to ask the girl, but I wanted to ask..." She stopped and looked down. I knew what she wanted to say but I wanted her to say it before I replied. _

"_Kairi..." I put my hand under her chin to have her look at me. _

"_Sora, will you go out with me?" I couldn't help but smile at her. _

"_I was hoping you'd say that." I whispered before going in for a kiss. We hugged before we both laid back into the sand and watched the stars dance above us. I reached for her hand and she snuggled up close. _

"_I love you." I heard her say. _

"_I love you too." I smiled. _

"I feel horrible! I hate seeing her like that." I covered my face with my hands angrily as I remembered her tear stained face.

"It's called love. It isn't always easy." Riku said as if he were the master of love. I looked at him skeptically.

"You make it sound like it's nothing big, like we can get over the problems easily."

"You can."

"If that's so, why aren't you back with Amanda yet?" I asked curiously. He sat there staring out into the mid afternoon sky for a little while before looking down into the sand.

"I don't know."

"That's what I thought." I stretched back.

"It's not like I don't want to be with her. I've been missing her like crazy." Riku sighed. "She was the only one who was able to see every fault I had and love me for them. She always treated me great too, I just don't know what went wrong."

"I feel that way about Kairi. She's perfect for me. I hope I got it clear that it's just a break and not a break up. I don't think I could stand seeing her with another guy."

"We're pathetic." Riku said. "We're two guys who are hopelessly in love with two wonderful girls and can't do anything about it. Well, at least you can do something since you were the one who completely just destructed Kairi's life. Not me, I'm just a lonely guy waiting in darkness for the only girl I ever loved."

"Thanks, you make me sound like a real prince charming." I replied sarcastically. "I'm sure you and Amanda will get back together. You're not in complete darkness, buddy." He looked at me and smiled a little.

"I'm sure Kairi understands where you're coming from. You just want a break, not to be entirely single, but not to be held back completely either. A lot of people go through it, she'll understand. Plus, the whole world knows how much you love her. You'll eventually see what's right too."

"Yeah, I hope so. I just know for a fact, I don't want to be without her forever." We both sighed.

---

I had to admit, waking up in _our _bed without Kairi was not something I liked, let alone could get use to. It was the third day without her by my side as I got ready for work. It was the first day we'd actually talk or see each other since she moved back to her parents house. I would have seen her at work the last couple days but she called in.

I got into work by ten and my stomach was in knots on the way up to my office. I don't know why I was so nervous; but I do admit, I was really anxious to see Kairi too. As soon as the elevator doors opened, I saw Kairi sitting at her desk doing some paper work. I walked in and only had her in site. I stopped at her desk to look at the in box for me.

"Hi, Kairi." I smiled, hoping to see her face light up. She looked up at me, not really smiling.

"Good morning, Mr. Hikaru." Kairi handed me the paper work she was working on, then stood up and walked down the hall. I was stunned. Talk about a burn right there. In the office full of people, my ears could only hear the stupid buzzing noise as I tried to comprehend what had just happened. Okay, so maybe I deserved that. I walked into my office and closed the door behind me. I worked on the papers Kairi handed me for almost half an hour when I saw Kairi finally return to her desk outside of my office. Not too long after she returned, I saw someone I wish I hadn't stand in front of her desk. She seemed just as surprised as Shawn began to talk to her.

I got up out of my seat and walked to my door where I stood in my doorway. His hands were put in front of him as he leaned into Kairi. She just sat there and looked up at him. I cleared my throat and crossed my arms. They both looked up at me.

"Ah, Sora Hikaru." Shawn stood up and stared at me with a smirk.

"What are you doing here, Shawn?" I asked angrily. Before he could answer, our boss from level 58 walked in with a huge grin on his face.

"Can I get everyone's attention!" He bellowed happily. Everyone on our level looked in our direction as he walked over to Shawn and put his hand on his shoulder. "I'd like to introduce you to my newest member of level 58, Shawn Johnson. He's going to be in charge if I'm not here and I'd prefer you all go to him before coming to me with documents." I was dumb founded. That meant that Shawn was a position higher than me. He was now the boss of me.

"Thank you." Shawn smiled happily. "I'm looking forward to working with all of you."

"Okay, you may all return to your work now." Our boss walked down the hall to his office.

"As you were saying?" Shawn said with a smile of satisfaction. I shook my head and returned to my office. I sat down in my chair and let my head fall onto the stack of papers before me.

"Someone kill me now." I sighed heavily.

---

A couple hours had past and Shawn kept revisiting Kairi every once in a while. Every time he came near her, I cringed with anger. I was typing a document into my computer when there was a knock on the door. I looked up to see another shocker. I waved my hand to motion her to enter.

"Christy." I said.

"Hey, Sora." Christy Jillings was standing in front of me with a business suit on, her dirty blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and some folders in her hands. "I have some things for you."

"What are you doing here?"

"I work here." She smiled. "I got hired a couple weeks ago in level 57."

"Oh, wow. I never knew." I said standing up. Last time Christy and I saw each other, her and Shawn came as a couple to our graduation party.

"Well you don't hear too much when you're on different floors." She laughed causing me to smile. "Although, the news did travel down about you and Kairi."

"Oh," I said sitting down again. "Wonderful." Christy moved to one of the chairs in front of my desk.

"I'm really sorry." She said. I looked past her to see Kairi double glance into my office. Her eyes widened when she noticed it was Christy. Although, once she saw that I was looking back at her, she turned away.

"You don't need to." I said calmly.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Christy leaned in a little and gave me a warm smile as she took one of my hands in hers. This caught me off guard. I looked down at our hands before I pulled back.

"What are your real intentions, Christy?" This made me too suspicious. She looked shocked.

"Well," She sighed. "Okay, this is going to sound stupid, but I want to make Shawn jealous. I know he's going after Kairi again, the whole level 57 is talking about it."

"Wait, what?" I said leaning in. This did and didn't surprise me at the same time.

"It was obvious that he never got over Kairi fully. Trust me, I saw it all the time; although there was no doubt about our own love." As I looked at Christy, I could tell she had matured. Her face, her style, her body (yes, I know I should not be paying attention to this exact detail, I am a male, so shoot me), it just wasn't what I was expecting. She leaned in so that she was only five inches away from my face and looked at me intensely. It caught me off guard. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Shawn standing by Kairi's desk looking in and Kairi sitting in her chair with her mouth slightly ajar. "I know they're looking our way."

"Well, you definitely got their attention." I said to her quietly.

"So, what do you say Sora?" Christy whispered. "You ready to get Kairi back and help me make Shawn squirm with jealousy?"

"I see you still have that little cruel heart of yours." I smirked as I tilted my head a little.

"What can I say?" She grinned evilly. "You can't always deny that little dark spot in my heart."

"Before I even really consider what you have in mind," I leaned back into my chair. "Tell me what happened between you and Shawn in the first place."

"How about you think about it a little more and ask me again later. I need to get back to work." She stood up and opened the door, but turned back with a seductive smile. "I'll see you soon, Mr. Hikaru."

I sat very still in my chair as Christy walked past Kairi. Kairi was watching Christy carefully before she disappeared behind the elevator doors. Kairi looked back into my office just staring at me. We looked at each other carefully. That's when she got out of her seat and walked into my office, closing the door behind her.

"What was that about?" Her voice was a little strained and full of worry.

"Kairi, it's not what you think. It was nothing." I said frowning a little.

"It sure didn't look like nothing." Kairi took in a deep breath. "What, is that why you wanted to take a break with me? So you could go and be with your ex again?"

"What!" I said standing up. "No way! Kairi, I took a break with you because we need time apart. I have no intension of dating anyone else. I love you, isn't that enough for you to trust me?"

"Sora, think about what you said." Her voice was soft as her eyes became glossy. "You say you love me and to trust you, but I trusted you to never hurt me like this. How can I be so sure that you actually really love me?"

"Kairi..." I was hurt by that. I took a step closer and just embraced her in a hug. "Kairi, please, just believe me that I do love you if you can't believe anything else I say." Her arms found their way around me and her body began to shake as she cried.

"Hum..." I knew her mind was really trying to consider what I said. I lifted her chin up so she could look me directly in the eye.

"Promise me that much." She was hesitant as she stared up at me. I reached over with my other hand and cleared her face of her crystal tears.

"Okay." Kairi finally managed to say.

"Thank you." I whispered in her ear as I hugged her one last time before sending her back to work. As I sat back down to finish typing up documents, I thought back to what has happened the last week. I never thought the decision I made would impact so many people, let alone possibly ruin the chance of things being the same. I was beginning to really regret it.

---

Later that night, I was sitting at the dining table eating some tv dinner when Riku came in and tossed the mail in front of me. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed something to drink before joining me. I shuffled through the mail when I found an envelope addressed to Kairi from _Speak _Publishing Company. I picked it up and stared at it. Slowly, I began to rip it open to see what was inside.

"You know, it is illegal to open other people's mail." Riku said as he took a drink from his water bottle.

"Yeah, I know." I said as I slipped out a letter. I began to read it out loud. "_Miss Kairi Hikari, Congratulations. We are pleased to inform you that you have been one of the selected contestants in the _Speak_ Publishing Short Story contest. You are now in the top 100 selected. The next date for turn in will be November 15, 2009. Please note the following story ideas you may write about_."

"Wow, that's great. Kairi was really hoping she'd get it." Riku said. "Did you read the story she sent out?"

"No, but I had told her I would." I replied feeling awful while folding the letter back up and placing it in the envelope. "I didn't even know she sent it out."

"It was unbelievable work. She's really talented."

"What was the story about?"

"It was a fairytale like story about a princess who was dying to be saved by anyone from the life she was living. It turned out that the prince who was coming to save her was an old friend from her childhood. They got separated when her family moved but he came looking for her when they got older. He eventually rescued her and the typical they lived happily ever after. It really reminded me of you two."

"You should have been at work today." I said feeling worse knowing that she based a fairytale story on us. I began to explain what happened with Shawn and Christy suddenly reappearing in our lives.

"You just aren't having any luck." Riku leaned back.

"I feel different, like a whole different person." I covered my face with my hands.

"How do you think Kairi feels?" His voice became serious. "She feels lost and hurt. The one person who promised to always be there for her, to love her forever, support her, lend her a helping hand when she needed it, went and broke her heart. She loves you Sora, more than I think you realize it to be honest. I think you took her for granted this time. Yes, we all know you still love her, but that isn't always enough sometimes. You need to prove to her just how much you love her, and by doing that, means you shouldn't have let her fall. I guarantee that she cries herself to sleep every night wondering if things are ever going to be okay. You say it's just a break but you already broke a big promise of never hurting her. It's going to be hard for her to trust again. Kairi probably feels lost more than ever. You two were just talking about your future together a few months ago and now you're wanting to be away from her, what is she supposed to do or feel now?"

"Man, Riku," I said looking down as I pushed my plate away suddenly losing my appetite. "Did you really have to go there?"

"Let's just say, I know how Kairi feels. I know what it's like to lose everything I thought would always be there."

Riku and I sat in silence for a while. I began to think about what he said. Amanda and I are in the same boat and I never really realized it. Kairi and Riku are also in a different boat as well. His words really hurt, a lot. I knew I had to make things better. I was just hoping it would all work for the good of everything.

**A/N**: Okay, so you all know the whole little break is based on my life, but just so it's clear, it never got that extreme with the exes and stuff. I had to add my own touch since it is a fictional story for more than real life (even though things seem to flow to real life after its written.) I finally updated in less than a month! Be proud of me! -smiles- Anywho, hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you to all of you who reviewed last time!


	7. Battle of the Sexes

**Chapter 7**- Battle of the (S)exes

Shawn was just announced our new boss. I wasn't exactly thrilled and by the look of Sora's face, he was mortified. Once Sora walked back into his office, Shawn left to his while he talked to the boss of level 58. Every once in a while Shawn would come back for a little chit chat.

Finally I got a little relieved when I realized I had to go deliver some documents to Roxas who was at the very end of the office, opposite of our boss and Shawn. I walked passed the elevators and knocked on his office door.

"Come in!" I heard him say through the glass door. I walked in and smiled.

"Hey, Roxas." I set down the papers at the end of his desk. He looked up and smiled.

"Hi, Kairi." Roxas leaned back in his chair. "How are you holding up?"

"Uh, I try not to think about it too much. You knew about it before it happened, didn't you?" I was afraid to ask, but it was over now, I at least had the right to know.

"Yeah..." He seemed shameful by it.

"Thanks for admitting it." I walked over and gave him a little hug before announcing I had to return to work.

"Hey, Kai," Roxas called out just before I left. "Why not come over to our place tomorrow night for dinner or something?"

"Sure, that sounds like fun." I smiled a little before walking back to my desk outside of Sora's office. I sat down in my desk and turned to look into Sora's office to see how he was holding up. Christy Jillings was sitting in front of him in a tight fitting, navy blue, short skirt and matching blazer top. Her dirty blonde hair was neatly placed in a high pony tail and it swayed back and forth as she talked. I was in utter shock to see this. My heart was racing, and then Sora noticed me looking in. I quickly turned back to my desk to gather my thoughts.

"This isn't happening.." I said to myself quietly.

"Hey, Kairi." Shawn came back. Great, perfect timing.

"Hi." I hardly said.

"Geez, you sound flustered. Something going on?" He stood closer to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Um, I don't know."

"What do you mean by that?" He questioned. "I'm your boss, you know. You can confide in me with anything." I slowly turned my chair to face into Sora's office. Shawn looked in too. My mouth dropped open a little when I noticed Sora and Christy were only a few inches away from each other. I felt Shawn's hand drop from my shoulder. Please don't kiss, please don't kiss... I pleaded in my mind.

"Please tell me that my eyes are deceiving me." Shawn said quietly.

"... I wish I could." I answered in complete honestly. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Shawn's hands turn into fists. His knuckles were beginning to whiten.

"Kairi." His voice was stronger and he leaned down to look at me.

"Yeah?"

"How about it, let's go on a little lunch date tomorrow. Just the two of us. Let's make them wish they never abandoned us." He smirked.

"Um, okay..." I said uncertainly.

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow." Shawn winked as he walked passed my desk toward his office. Not too long after I agreed to go on a date with Shawn, Christy walked by. I noticed her shaking her hips seductively as she entered the elevators. I quivered with anger. I turned to look into Sora's office. We both looked at each other before I finally decided to confront him. I walked into his office and closed the door behind me.

When I arrived home later that afternoon, Amanda was walking up to the doorstep. I got out of my car and smiled at her.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey." She hardly replied. I could tell that something was on her mind.

"What's wrong?" I frowned a little and opened the front door. I lead the way up to my bedroom and closed the door behind us.

"I've been thinking a lot, I guess." Amanda sat down on my bed and looked at me.

"What have you been thinking about?" I put my bag down on my dresser and sat next to her. She didn't answer right away.

"... I think I made a mistake."

"A mistake?" I had to think about it for a second. "A mistake about what?" She looked at me with teary eyes.

"...When I broke up with Riku..." Amanda's voice was hardly audible.

"You know, I've been thinking on my way home. I was thinking about how it feels to be in my stituation. Then I remembered how Riku felt and looked after I found out about you two. I know how he feels. He's sad and hurt. I know he wants you back, more than anything. It has been about two months." I looked at a group picture from back in high school that I put on my desk in front of us. I noticed Amanda looking at it too.

"I didn't want to hurt him. It hurt me too, more than anything, knowing I'm the one who did it." She sat in silence trying to think of something else to say.

"You should talk to him. Admit to how you feel." I looked at her. "I don't know when you'll be able to do that, but who knows, it'll come when the time is right."

"Maybe. I don't know what to say. I really love him, and I miss him so much."

"Just say that." I smiled happily. "Just tell him that you love him and you miss him. If he feels the same way, which I'm more than sure of, you two will be back together before you realize it."

"What if he hates me now, though? After what I did..." She sounded really worried.

"Let's put it back into my situation. You know exactly how I feel and what I've been going through. Riku went through the same thing and still is. Worrying if you two are going to get back together. You two are each other's worlds and have been since day one. He couldn't hate you, even if he tried." I looked down at my engagement ring. "Trust me on this. I know it." It was silent for a while as Amanda looked at me before hugging me tightly out of no where.

"Thank you, Kairi! That gives me a lot of hope." She smiled and wiped her teary eyes.

"Of course." I laughed. "I'm always here for you. I mean, you were the one who spent the night at my house after I moved out. Best friends do that for each other."

"Yes. Thank you. I'll take your word...and talk to Riku sometime soon." I nodded with a smile before feeling my cell phone vibrate in my pocket.

"Oh, hold on a second, I got a text message..." I pulled it out and read through it. "Speaking of the devil, Riku says I have some mail at the apartment and I can head over whenever I can. I'm pretty sure Riku and Sora are still at work so we can go, if you want to go with me."

"Sure." She smiled. "Let's go."

"Guess who showed up at work today..." I said grabbing my bag off my desk. We walked down the stairs.

"...Mickey Mouse?" I laughed at her reply.

"No, not even close." She smiled at me.

"Then who? Anyone I know?"

"Oh yes, a little too well unfortunately." I sighed as we got into my car.

"...Who was it?" She frowned as she buckled in.

"Shawn Johnson," I started the car and started to pull out the driveway. Amanda looked startled.

"Shawn? No way! What was he doing there!"

"Eh, he's the new boss of level 58 unfortunately. Sora was NOT happy to see that happen." I said.

"He works with you guys now? Wow. Life hates you... did Sora do anything?"

"He was about to tell him off then when Shawn was announced our boss, he fell silent and went back into his office. He couldn't do anything or else Shawn could fire him now."

"So wait, Shawn is really your new boss now? Ugh." She leaned back into the seat.

"Yeah, it's totally not fun. He kept talking to me today. Oh and then another familiar face showed up in the office too," I replied.

"What now? Christy?" she laughed jokingly.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Oh, my god." Her eyes widened. "Talk about unwelcome surprises."

"Yeah..."I stared at the road intensely. "She was too close for comfort to Sora in his office today."

"Nothing happened, right?"

"Um, not that I saw. Although it looked like they were about to kiss for a while. Just a few inches away from each other. It made me cringe. Because of that Shawn asked me out on a date, right before I talked to Sora about him and Christy."

"I don't think that Sora would ever cheat on you. He loves you too much, Kairi." Amanda paused. "And you didn't agree to go on a date with Shawn, right?"

"I know Sora loves me, he made me promise that I know that." I paused for a second and I looked out the side mirror. "... And maybe I did..." Amanda sighed heavily.

"Kairi...Shawn's bad news. I thought we all agreed on this the first time he made you date him. Plus, you can't do that to Sora." I looked back at the road and frowned.

"I know, I know! But I mean, seeing Christy and Sora so close, I wasn't even thinking when I agreed to it."

"Don't tell me you want to get Sora jealous because he was talking to Christy?" She questioned.

"Uh... maybe part of me does, maybe self consiously I do... I don't know..."

"You poor confused girl." She reached over and patted my shoulder. "It's okay. None of us have any idea what's going on, either."

"Let's just hope nothing else comes in uncalled for." I replied.

"In our lives? I doubt it. Beware for the uncalled for."

"That is very true. We definitely weren't expecting half the events in our lives to happen." I laughed nervously. She laughed awkwardly too. We talked about a few other things to clear up the distant memories before we finally arrived at the apartment. Amanda and I walked up to the second story and unlocked the front door. It was quiet up until Princess came running up to us barking happily. I quickly bent down and hugged my golden retriever. She followed us energetically to the dining room table where Precious was laying in one of the chairs. Once she noticed we were there, she lightly jumped onto the table and snuggled up to my hand.

"I'm so glad that I got to see my pets." I smiled as I bent down to kiss my Persian- Himalayan cat.

"I can tell they missed you too." Amanda laughed. I reached for my mail and looked through them.

"Speak Publishing Company replied!" I said eagerly. "Wait a second, it's been opened."

"Sora was being nosey." Riku's voice said from behind us. Amanda and I quickly turned around to see Riku leaning up against his bedroom door frame with his arms crossed.

"That doesn't surprise me too much." I replied looking down at my opened envelope. Riku and Amanda stared at each other. Last time they talked or saw each other was the dinner at our house not too long after the break up.

"Hey." He replied quietly as he walked toward us.

"Hi." She said just as quietly, meeting him half way into the living room.

"How have you been?" Riku stopped about a foot away from her. I stood there and watched them both.

"I've been... okay. How about yourself?"

"I've had better days."

"Riku," Amanda looked down before looking up at her ex-boyfriend. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking when I said I didn't love you anymore. My mind was all over with the stress of college starting up and bills and everything. It should have never ended that way. Riku, I love you and miss you so much."

"Amanda," Riku sighed. My heart skipped a beat when he smiled softly at her before bringing her closer to him. "I've been waiting for you to say that. I love and miss you too."

"Really?"

"More than anything." That's when Amanda and Riku became rejoined into a passionate kiss. It was completely fairytale-like. I caught myself smiling but feeling sad at the same time. My best friends were back together, finally, but I was now alone even more. As I came to realize this, just passed the renewed couple, Sora walked in and saw the sight. Not even a couple seconds of realizing Riku and Amanda, he looked passed them to see me. We stood there and I only managed to see him. The guy I wish I could be kissing right now was just a room away and I wasn't able to do a thing.

Everything pretty much seemed like a blur yesterday. Before I even realized it, lunch time the following day rolled around. Shawn met me at my desk and he walked me to the elevators. I didn't even turn around to see if Sora was looking as the doors closed. Shawn and I decided to eat out front of Destiny Island Foundation after getting food from the cafeteria.

"So how are you today?" Shawn asked before biting into his chicken sandwich.

"I'm okay. How about you?" I felt weird about this whole situation.

"Doing better. I saw Christy after seeing her with Sora yesterday."

"Really? What happened?"

"She just ignored me." He rolled his eyes. I looked around the fall scenery that was overtaking the island.

"If you don't mind me asking," I started. "What happened between you two?"

"...She left me for another guy." Just by looking at him, I could tell it still hurt.

"Ouch..." I took a drink from my soda. "I'm sorry."

"It's no big deal," Shawn replied. "Although, I know if I ever saw the guy again, I would have to beat his ass."

"Geez," In a way I saw this coming, in a way I didn't. "Are they still together?"

"Not anymore. It didn't last long."

"Why does she seem so reluctant toward you if she's the one who left you?" I figured I'd ask.

"Because I yelled at her for hurting me even though she pleaded she didn't mean it." Even though I never saw it, just listening to Shawn speak about it, I knew he was still very angry.

"Was the guy a friend of yours or something?"

"Um, he wasn't exactly a friend."

"Do I know him?"

"Yes."

"Really?" I was surprised to hear I knew this guy who managed to steal Christy's heart away from Shawn.

"Unfortunately." Shawn shrugged and frowned before focusing his attention back to his food. Neither of us continued talking for a while. Probably five minutes of dead conversation, I heard someone try to get our attention.

"Excuse me?" He called out. I looked up and about ten feet away, I saw a dirty blond haired guy in a black suit. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me until I saw him smirk a little.

"Seifer?" I quickly got up and ran over to him. I instantly remembered him apologizing to me for everything which caused me to hug him. "What are you doing here?"

"I work for Twilight Town Corporation. I'm here to deliver some stuff to D.I.F." He explained.

"Wow." I smiled. "You seem to be doing pretty good."

"Yeah, same with you. Looking gorgeous as always." Seifer said running the back of his fingers across my cheek. "You still getting married?"

"Hopefully." I replied not really sure how to even answer. "Wait a second, how do you know I'm even getting married."

"Word travels fast when you live on an island and have friends in the three biggest cities on it." He clarified. I nodded in agreement. "So what are you doing here?"

"I work here. I actually work for Sora."

"Nice, working for the fiancé, at least I'm sure he's not too harsh on his girlfriend." I shrugged. "What's that matter?" Before I could answer, his eyes quickly averted passed me to where I was eating.

"Almasy." Shawn said. I turned to see him standing there with his arms crossed.

"Johnson." Seifer replied. They knew each other since they lived close by before Shawn moved to Destiny City.

"Showing your face where you're not welcomed, again." He walked up closer to us.

"Wait, wait, wait." I said stopping them both. "I thought you two got along fine?"

"We did until him and Christy got together." Shawn glared. Wow not expecting this one.

"What, are you still upset about something that was done and over long ago?" Seifer crossed his arms with a big smirk.

"Oh, trust me, Almasy, it's not over. I have another tactic under my sleeve and you won't get a hold of this one."

"I can have anything you have if I really want it, Johnson."

"Okay boys, stop." I said covering my face. "It feels like we're in high school, no wait, middle school. Knock it off."

"She's right. I have more important things to do." Seifer held up a briefcase. He walked passed us and disappeared into the building. I looked at Shawn and the entryway where Seifer disappeared. I knew this wasn't the end of this childish act and I had a strong feeling I was about to be pulled into the ultimate battle of the exes.

**A/N**: Tada! It is currently January 7, 2008, yes, it only took 4 days to update, but notice the date it's actually updated. Not the same, huh? There is a reason, just waiting for people to be more eager to read chapter 7, that's all -smiles-

**Next up**: For those of you who are ubber fans of the Dear Diary series and are fans of the book Twilight, you may have seen that there is a story on fanfiction that is exactly Dear Diary but with Twilight characters written by Soraloveskairi59. I gave her my complete permission to rewrite it as long as she acknowledged that it was originally my story. Please do not flame or harass her for stealing another authors work. (Also, just so you all know, the author -me- my name is Heather, not Amanda lol people are getting that mixed up. I'm Heather -smiles-)


	8. He Said, She Said

**Chapter 8**- He Said, She Said

"Happy Birthday, Kairi!" Roxas and Namine cheered simultaneously. I smiled at two of my best friends. The dinner they had wanted me to attend was for my 20th birthday.

"The others will be here soon." Namine said walking up to hug me.

"There's more coming?" I asked surprised.

"Of course, it can't be just the three of us." Roxas answered as he turned on the stereo to some party mix he had made.

"Who else will be here?" Before he could answer that question, there was a knock at the door. He walked over to see who had just arrived. Riku and Amanda, of course, walked in together with a present in each of their hands.

"We saw Cloud outside. He was parking his car." Amanda said. "He'll be here in a little bit."

"This is making me all excited." I grinned happily as the newest party guests put their gifts next to Roxas and Namine's on the coffee table.

"Josh, Blake, and Alexa are also in the car with him." Riku added. Just about a minute later, the four of them walked in. I immediately went to hug them all.

"Josh," I said wrapping my arms around him. "Feels like I haven't seen you in ages."

"Yeah," He laughed. "You look good."

"You too." I replied stepping back to get a better look at my old family friend. He probably only grew another two inches. His black hair wasn't that long and his brown eyes were still wide with awareness. I looked over to see Blake and Alexa. "Aw, it's so good to see that you two are still together."

"Yeah," Alexa grinned as she reached for Blake's arm happily. He looked down at her and smiled. There was another knock at the door.

"Who else is coming?" I asked surprised. Namine went to open the door, this time to reveal my parents, along with Alexa's parents, Uncle John and Aunt Juli.

"Hi!" I jumped over to them excitedly. I loved seeing my family. Even though I've been living with my parents for a week, it always made a difference when they came to see me somewhere else.

"Hey kiddo." Uncle John said patting my head.

"She's not a kiddo anymore, dear." Aunt Juli corrected him, smiling. "She's already twenty."

"My little girl is growing up so fast." My mom said hugging me tightly. I could already hear her voice start to quiver a little.

"Mom," I said as she hugged me tighter.

"Helen, you're suffocating our daughter." My dad said releasing her arms from me before he gently hugged me.

"Who's hungry?" Namine chimed from the kitchen. Every decided they were as we began to head into the kitchen in a line that wrapped into it from the living room. Roxas and Namine had set up a little buffet with salad, barbeque, fruits, and saved the cake for after.

"I'll get you yours." Cloud said to me. "Anything you want in specific?"

"A little bit of everything, please." I smiled softly. He smiled back and headed in line. Seeing a lot of our group from back in high school automatically brought back so many happy memories. I couldn't wait to get all of us together sometime soon. Not even a minute after the thought came to mind, there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" I offered since I was the only one not in line. I walked over to the front door and opened it. I was surprised to see who it was.

"Hey, Kairi." Sora said quietly. He was holding a birthday balloon, a dozen red roses, and a small, neatly wrapped present with a pink bow.

"H-hi." I said stepping back to let him in.

"Happy birthday." He said as we walked into the living room.

"Thank you." Sora handed me flowers and sat down the other things on the coffee table. He noticed the line for food and decided to wait to get something. "How are you?"

"I'm doing fine." I replied. Even though I'd seen him at work, this was the first time outside of work that I had seen him since we went on our break. It felt awkward. "How about you?"

"Same." He looked down as he put his hands into his pockets. I put the roses up to my nose and took in the refreshing scent.

"These smell so good." I smiled admiring my birthday flowers. He looked up and smiled. Namine came out of the kitchen and saw the flowers.

"Here," She smiled at me as she took them out of my hands. "I'll go put these in water for you."

"Thank you, Nam."

"So twenty, already." Sora said getting my attention again. I laughed a little before smiling at him.

"Yeah, feels kind of old in a way."

"Hey, least you just turned twenty. I'm going to be twenty-one soon." He smiled.

"Not for another eight more months." I replied with a smile plastered to my face.

"It's really nice to see you smile, you know." Sora said brushing the hair out of my eyes. This only caused me to be slightly embarrassed as I turned to look down a little since I could feel my cheeks begin to burn. There was suddenly another knock at the door.

"Now who could it be?" I said looking up toward the front door.

"I'll get it." Sora said.

"No, it's okay, I will." I quickly walked passed him to the door. When I opened it, I honestly thought my eyes were playing a mean trick on me.

"Hey." Shawn smiled holding a wrapped present. "I heard about the birthday party."

"Um, hi." I said shocked. I stepped aside to let him walk in. Roxas came out of the kitchen and stood by Sora. They both looked over to see who the newest party guest was.

"Wait, how did you know there was a party?" Roxas asked in a slightly harsh tone.

"I heard you talking to Sora about it at work. I couldn't miss out on Kairi's birthday." Shawn replied handing me my present. I walked by him to put it on the coffee table with everyone else's. Right as Shawn was closing the door, I noticed Christy standing in the doorway.

"Um," Christy said stopping the door and glaring at Shawn. "I'm standing right here." She pushed the door open with a force and walked over to hand me a small little box. "Happy birthday, Kairi."

"Um, thank you?" Okay, something was definitely not right. Shawn glared as Christy walked passed him. He was about to close the door when Christy turned around.

"My date will be here in a second." She announced to her exboyfriend.

"Who invited you?" Roxas glared. Namine walked out and was shocked. Everyone else was so busy with food, they didn't even notice the last three, soon to be four, guests arrive.

"I have my ways." Christy smiled innocently. There was a tap on the door. We all averted our attention to the partly opened front door. I slapped my forehead.

"I'm not late, am I?" Seifer asked with a smirk.

"Nope." Christy said waving him in. Seifer walked passed Shawn as if it were nothing. I noticed Shawn give him a dirty glare. This was absolutely ridiculous.

"Here Kairi, be careful not to spill anything, the plate is kind of overflowing." Cloud said walking carefully toward me with my dinner. He looked up from the plate to see three people I bet he never thought he'd have to face ever again.

"Cloud Strife," Seifer said. "Long time, no see."

"What the hell are youdoing here?" Cloud almost yelled. Since the volume of his voice wasn't exactly the quietest, everyone else at the party turned their attention toward the entryway of the apartment. Riku walked forward to join Sora, Roxas, and Cloud with this arms crossed.

"Do we need to get someone out of here?" My dad said walking forward with my uncle.

"We got it, dad." I said putting my hand up.

"I'm here for Kairi's birthday party." Seifer answered.

"Who invited you?" Riku snarled.

"Christy."

"Who invited Christy?" Amanda said as she moved forward to get a better view. Unfortunately, just as Christy was about to answer, yet again there was another knock.

"Now who?" Roxas sighed heavily. Since Shawn was closest to the door, he opened it up. A tall, blonde haired girl with aqua blue eyes stared in. I didn't recognize her at first but when I did, my mouth fell open and my eyes widened.

"Cindy?" I said shocked. Christy and Cindy had been best friends back in high school but their friendship strained toward the end. They're still friends but by the look on Christy's face, she wasn't happy to see her.

"What are youdoing here?" Christy hissed at her best friend.

"I invited her." Shawn said as Cindy stood next to him. "She's my date."

"You can go screw yourself, Shawn." Christy replied.

"Okay, you four were not invited to this birthday party so we need some explanations before this party goes completely down the drain." Namine said turning off the music.

"We know that Shawn invited Cindy and Christy invited Seifer." Riku said.

"And Shawn over heard me talking to Sora about the birthday party at work today." Roxas looked at him.

"Now we're trying to find out how Christy knew about it." Amanda added.

"Well," Christy smiled, slightly too evilly. "Sora told me about it." There were a couple gasps here and there. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I turned to look at Sora.

"Is that true?" I questioned him. He did look ashamed and guilty.

"Yeah." He answered. Everyone who was originally invited seemed surprised that Sora would do such a thing.

"Why?" It hurt that he'd purposely ruin my party.

"Because," Christy began as she walked forward to take his hand in hers. My stomach twisted with agony. "He wanted me to come. Trying to see if we can spark the little romance we had before you came along."

"Is... is that true, Sora?" I whispered. He looked up at me for a second, his eyes were strongly met with mine. Next thing I knew, he quickly pushed Christy's hands away from him.

"This is so fucking stupid!" He yelled. I jumped a little. Sora was hardly angry and when he would yell, you knew he was more than mad. "I can't take this stupid evil plot of yours Christy!"

"Sora! What are you doing!" Christy glared. "You're going to ruin everything."

"You already made it worse than it needed to be." He glared at her. Sora turned to me and took me by the hand. "Kairi, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed with Christy to make you and Shawn jealous."

"Sora!" Christy yelled again.

"Shut up!" He hissed at her. "I'm trying to speak!" I was stunned by the way Sora was acting, yet, it slightly turned me on. Focus, Kairi... focus. "The day you saw Christy in my office, nothing happened. I swear on my life. She knew I was upset that you and Shawn were speaking and she wanted to make him jealous and wanted to help me make you jealous. It wasn't right. I wasn't thinking. I was being stupid and I'm sorry." He frowned before hugging me. "I'm sorry." He whispered into my ear.

"Sora," I said back. "I was about to do the same kind of jealousy thing with Shawn but we just never got around to planning anything. I'm sorry too."

"But Kairi," He pulled back. "I'm sorry about everything. I realized after you left the day I said we needed a break that it was stupid. Riku made me realize what I had and I wish I realized it before I made my choice. I know it's only been a little over a week and I said at least a month, but I want you back."

"Really?" I tried to hold down my excitement.

"More than anything."

"I've missed you." I said hugging him tightly. Without realizing it, tears were filling my eyes, of course they were happy ones.

"I've missed you too." He kissed my forehead. I lifted up my head and we had our first kiss in a week. Yeah, I know a week isn't long but after getting kisses for almost four years daily, a week can kill.

"Okay," Roxas smiled. "We got the other situation cleared." Sora and I smiled at each other before looking back at the four who weren't really intended to be here.

"I'm confused," Josh said. "Christy, why don't you want to see your best friend here?"

"Because she was sneaking around with Shawn when we were dating." Christy pointed angrily at her best friend. "That's why Shawn and I didn't last."

"What?" I was shocked. "But Shawn, you said that Christy was sneaking around with Seifer."

"She was." Shawn snarled.

"So you two were cheating on each other?" Sora asked. No one answered, just stared.

"I take that as a yes." Namine answered. We were all left in silence for what seemed like eternity before Sora, Riku, Roxas, and Cloud all moved forward. Sora took hold of Shawn, Riku took Christy, Roxas took Cindy, and Cloud took Seifer.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Shawn asked as Sora pushed him toward the front door that was being held open by Josh.

"I'm escorting you out of my girlfriend's birthday party." Sora said as he walked outside with Shawn in hand. The others followed until everyone disappeared outside. Just seconds later, Sora, Riku, Roxas, and Cloud walked back in with successful smiles.

"Now, let's get this party started!" Roxas cheered. I started laughing as everyone returned to the party as if nothing had happened. As everyone ran back into the kitchen or started dancing to the music Namine put back on, Sora walked up to me with a huge smile on his face and embraced me with both a kiss and hug.

A few days had gone by after my birthday. Work was a little nerve wrecking but Shawn, Christy, nor Cindy talked to each other or us. Everything else was back to normal. I was living back at the apartment with Sora and Riku. Everything just felt right and I was honestly happy again. Sora and I finished eating lunch at my choice, McDonalds, even though Sora wanted something else, he didn't want to argue with me. We were driving back to work together.

"So you still think you made the right choice?" I asked referring to him wanting to be with me still after his little break he decided to pull on me. I looked at Sora as we drove down the road. I was kind of nervous to hear the truth and my throat suddenly went dry as I looked back at the road.

"Yeah..." He said kind of uncertain. "But I think Jack In The Box would have been better." Sora laughed and I looked at him shocked by that remark. I started laughing and hit his arm. I looked back into my lap where my hands were closed around each other.

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to lighten up the mood." He smiled and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. I smiled at him shyly.

"The mood was already light."

"Well, I like it light."

"It wasn't heavy though."

"I know." We both smiled at each other. It was true. Sora was back to his normal happy self who would joke with me just because he could. I was happy and I could tell by the way he kissed me at the stoplight that he was too.

**A/N**: AWWW! You all know that was an AW moment lol. Okay, already finished chapter 8 on January 10, 2008.. I am on a roll people! -smiles- yes obviously it wasn't actually updated on the 10th but still, it was finished. Hope you enjoyed it! (Starting date: Jan 7, obvious ending date: Jan 10) Just so you all know, chapter 9 is done and I'm in the middle of chapter 10. Reviews definitely encourage me to update for your reading pleasure.


	9. Had Enough

**Chapter 9**- Had Enough

(Sora's POV)

_A little over a month has passed since I realized I was an idiot for losing Kairi. She is my everything and I completely took something so amazing for granted. Everyone goes through phases in life wondering what they want out of it. Some figure it out almost instantly and don't make stupid decisions that could possibly ruin their entire life. Some, on the other hand, don't really think through things throughly, like me. _

_Life can throw you for a loop sometimes and that's when you have to take a step back and really consider your options. If you come to a crossroad, you should really think about the pros and cons of each leading action. Figuring out what's important to you and what it can do to your loved ones is a very big deal and everyone needs to remember that with each action they decide to do. Nothing is ever fully easy but as long as you're aware of possible consequences you could possibly save yourself from hurting you or someone close to you. _

_Unfortunately, some have to learn the hard way to realize what they have. It's definitely not something I am proud of. When you're in a very committed relationship, you really need to think about things from their perspective and how your actions can effect theirs. You could quite possibly do something that seems little to you personally, but it can cause more than you bargained for with that special someone. My own advice to the world: Never take advantage of something so great, especially when you know you can never find something as wonderful as what you have. _

_-Sora_

"I love it." Kairi whispered into my ear. I was sitting at the computer typing up a personal entry of my own into her diary. She was leaning against me from behind reading what I had to say. Her soft cheek rubbed against mine before I felt her lips leave their mark.

"I was only being honest." I replied turning to face her. She smiled softly as she pulled me up into a hug.

"Do you ever regret taking me back?" Kairi asked quietly into my chest.

"Of course not." I said, kissing her forehead. "I wouldn't have wrote that entry if I did." She muffled a laugh as she pulled away. We both looked around the apartment. Just a couple weeks ago, Riku moved out to a new apartment with Amanda. It was kind of quiet but we had our privacy back. Of course we still didn't do anything sexual even though our friends don't seem to believe us. Even though we both were dedicated to wait until after marriage, it was eating at us both. After all, we are only human.

"Hey Sora," Kairi said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Hum?"

"I was thinking about it earlier," She pulled me down onto the couch. "I was thinking about my first day back to Destiny City and my first day of eleventh grade. I remember that you and Christy had broken up and I've heard the story of what happened prior to the break up, but what really happened right before school started and that first day?"

"Oh God, you're really going to make me try to remember, aren't you?" I said making a stressed out face.

"Of course." She smiled happily at me.

"Okay, well..."

**Flashback**

"Man, Sora, you're moving so slow." Riku sighed heavily as I walked out of my house. I looked over at my best friend with tired eyes.

"Don't even start with me today, please." I replied looking over at the houses across the street. They had been up for sale for almost a year and just a couple weeks ago, two families moved in at the same time. Riku and I had yet to introduce ourselves, but we, well at least I had a very good excuse.

"So how did the break up with Christy go?" Riku and I started to walk down the street toward Destiny High School. Christy and I had been dating for a number of months, almost a year, but she went and ruined it all.

"Well, she pleaded to me that it was nothing." I rolled my eyes. "And stupid me actually believed her."

"Billy's an asshole, we should beat the hell out of him." I looked over at Riku and smirked a little.

"Anyway," I continued. "I don't know why, but I figured we should try to work it out. I mean, I seriously loved that girl. I look back now and don't understand why though. She pretty much used me."

"Namine, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka always believed that she was just using you." He admitted to me.

"Oh geez, thanks guys for telling me." I said sarcastically.

"It's not like you would have listened to anything negative anyway." Riku had a point. I sighed again.

"Well yesterday, Christy was over at my house and we were in my room. Things were pretty much back to normal, I was over it and Christy really seemed like she wanted me back. We were making out (**A/N**: ew, freaking Sora, geez). Right in the middle of it, her cell phone rings. She quickly pulled away to see who it was." I said looking at the sky wondering what I did to deserve what happened to me this summer.

"Let me guess," Riku said as we began to turn the corner. "It was Billy."

"Bingo." I said through clenched teeth. "Well she looked at her phone and said it was nothing, but little did she know, I actually saw his name appear on the screen. I told her to put it on speaker phone and talk as if I wasn't there. She seemed really hesitant to do it. I assured her it was okay because we were perfectly happy together and nothing was going to change that again. God, I'm so stupid!"

"Sora," Riku said snapping me back into the present day. "It's over and done with now. Tell me what happened."

"Anyway, she put her lips on mine and told me she loved me. I kissed her back and said the same thing. Christy sighed and turned her phone on speaker." Just thinking about this was making me boil inside.

-flashback within a flashback-

"Hello?" Christy said into the mic. She was sitting on my lap and I had my head on her shoulder, breathing in her sweet blonde hair as I listened in.

"Hey baby." Billy's voice echoed into my room. My head immediately jerked up as I looked at my girlfriend's face. Her eyes were shut tight.

"Hey." She replied sounding casual, yet strained.

"Man, last night was amazing." He laughed. I didn't know what to think. I felt frozen in time. "You left me completely speechless."

"Y-yeah, it was okay..."

"Okay?" He sounded surprised. "Last night you were telling me this was the best time you have ever had with a guy. You said Sora never would have done it with you."

"Uh, Billy, can we talk about this some other time?" Christy whispered. My stomach started to twist and turn, making me feel nauseated.

"Why, is something wrong?"

"This just isn't the time to be talking about it."

"But you said you were coming back over for more after you were done at Sora's house. You said you'd be here at seven and it's already passed seven." Billy said. Christy and I looked at the clock that read 7:10.

"I-I know." I felt Christy tremble on my lap.

"See you in a little bit, babe. Wear something sexy." The line went dead. I was stunned. She cheated on me, again, only further than just a kiss.

"Get off of me." I said in a very low tone. Christy quickly turned her head to me.

"Sora-." She started.

"Get off of me." I said a little louder.

"No, Sora, you don't understand." Christy pleaded.

"You're right," I said standing up immediately, causing her to stumble to her feet. "I don't understand what I ever saw in you. I don't understand why I took you back. I don't know why I would date a slut like _you_."

"Wha-?" She was left speechless.

"Get out of my house." I glared. I took her by the arm and escorted her to the front door myself. "It's over."

"Sora." Her hazel eyes glimmered with tears under the porch light. I shook my head and closed the door in her face.

-end of flashback within a flashback-

"That's so... nasty." Riku said shaking his head. "I can't believe Christy and Billy Heart did it. Ew."

"Yeah..." I said looking at the sidewalk. I was still very hurt by it; after all, it was only last night that it happened.

"I'm sorry, dude." I felt Riku pat my back.

"Yeah, me too." The rest of the way was silent. About five to ten minutes passed and we were arriving to the front of our high school. There were people everywhere and since I knew how fast word traveled here, it would be only a matter of hours before I would be hammered about the break up. I was just hoping I wouldn't have a class with either Christy or Billy.

"Since the seniors left already, I wonder who's been placed in group B with us." Riku said as we walked up the stairs to the front doors.

"Who knows, let's just hope we can get along with them." I said making my way passed the other students in the hall. Right before we made it up to the stairs leading to the second floor, someone stopped me.

"Hey Sora." I turned around to see Billy Heart smirking at me with his arms crossed. Billy was a football player with a lot of charisma. I know I had nothing to worry about with him trying to over rule me since for one: he was a year younger than me, and two: his cocky jock attitude pissed everyone off.

"What do you want?" I glared angrily.

"Your girlfriend showed up to my house last night." He grinned menacingly.

"Ex-girlfriend." I corrected him.

"She was still your girlfriend when we got hot and heavy together the first time." Billy leaned in closer to me. "And she was just as good when she was upset last night too." Before I could do or say anything, Christy ran up between us.

"Billy, shut up." She glared at him. "You need to grow up."

"I know you'll be back for more." He kissed her cheek before leaving.

"Sora, I'm sorry." Christy said hugging me. I stood there for a second before pushing her back.

"Don't talk to me." I said to her. "I don't want to be seen with someone like you. You can just go back to your little lover and screw him again for all I care. Just don't come back to me when you get your heart broken. Let's just say that'll be karma." (**A/N**: woo! Go Sora!) I pushed passed her and walked up the stairs with Riku close by.

"You'll come back to me, Sora!" Christy called after me.

"Wow Sora, it's so unlike you to be so angry." Riku said as we walked up the stares, ignoring every word that just came out of my ex.

"I am so not in the mood to deal with anyone's crap today." I said speeding up my pace toward room 203.

"That's understandable." I heard Riku say as he walked behind me. I saw my Math class up ahead and I was determined to get there before any more unwanted attention happened. Namine was at her locker just up ahead and I would have stopped by to say 'hi' but I decided otherwise. Right as I passed Namine, a girl with brownish hair stood up and bumped into me. I wasn't in the mood.

"Watch where you're going." I said harshly to her as I pushed on passed everyone. I wasn't normally this way but the whole situation from last night to this morning didn't exactly make me look like Mr. Good Guy.

"Cloud, no!" I faintly heard the girl say as I disappeared into class.

"Hey Sora." Selphie, a friend from elementary school and middle school grinned from a group of small people. Even though Selphie was sometimes a little over happy, I knew she would be able to snap me out of my funk.

"Hey there Selphie." I said sitting backwards in a chair to look at the bouncy brunette.

"So how have you been? I haven't seen you in a week!" She said eagerly.

"Eh, I've been better." I sighed.

"I heard about what happened between you and Christy." Some guy from the other group in our class said.

"I knew it wouldn't take too long."

"I tired not to bring it up." Selphie frowned before glaring at the other kid. The classroom door opened. Riku, Namine, some blond haired kid and the girl that bumped into me walked in. Namine led them to the side of the room closest to the windows. They started to talk and Selphie looked over. "Well, I think I'm going to go sit over there."

"Okay." I nodded. Selphie got up and made her way to where the other four were. I continued to talk to the other kids for a little while before our teacher walked in.

"Hello class. My name is Mrs. Lawson." She announced to us. "Could group B please sit on the side closest to the window and group M sit closest to the door." I got up and made my way across the room. I sat down next to the window and next to Riku. "After roll call, I'll just pass out some papers about this class, then you can talk until class ends." She called through our names while I spaced out into oblivion until I heard my name and only went back into my thoughts. After that, she passed out some papers on something. Everyone quickly returned to their conversations prior to class starting. I felt Riku backhand my arm. I looked at him.

"Be back in a second." I said getting up. I went to Mrs. Lawson and asked if I could get something to drink. My mouth was dry at the thought of what happened and I knew Sprite would do the trick. It was kind of like a comfort food of mine. I walked out of class and paid for a Sprite out of the soda machine right in the hallway. I walked back in happily and sat back in my seat, leaning against the wall. Riku, Namine, Selphie, the blond haired kid and the red-brown haired girl looked at me. I smiled like nothing was wrong.

"Sora." Namine said. I turned to look at her.

"Yeah?"

"Remember that cru-." Before Namine could finish, Riku and Selphie covered her mouth. They all glared at each other as they let Namine go. I raised an eyebrow. They sure were acting weird.

"Anyways, Sora. Do you remember her?" Riku pointed to the girl sitting behind me. I looked to my right and examined her face. She sure was pretty. Her face slowly turned a light shade of pink as I continued to stare. Suddenly my cell phone vibrated and I jumped causing her to do the same.

"Oh crap. Sorry. Hold on real fast." I opened up to read a text message from Christy that said that she was very sorry and still loved me. I thought about it and got kind of frustrated. How did I manage to get so caught up in something like this. I closed my phone and returned it to my pocket before looking at the girl next to me again. Namine and her were talking and suddenly the girl smiled. My stomach immediately dropped. I recognized her.

"Kairi?" I said with my mouth dropped open. Everyone near by was staring at us.

"Heh, yeah?" She looked at me nervously. I swore I thought I wouldn't ever see this girl again. I had known her since elementary school and had the biggest crush on her that only Riku knew about. After she moved away before sixth grade, everyone noticed how sad I became and that's when I admitted my feelings about Kairi to everyone, including her best friend, Namine.

"Bore a hole through her, why don't-cha?" Selphie said snapping me out of my trance.

"Sorry." I said quickly. "Wow, you look different."

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" Kairi asked uncertainly.

"A good thing." The five of us replied. She seemed shocked to get so many answers. She looked at the blond boy next to her. They started talking about his response. I looked over at Riku.

"Hey," I said getting his attention. "You know, Kairi might be the perfect person to get my mind off of Christy."

"You should ask her on a date or something." He said. I smiled and turned to face Kairi but before I could say anything, the bell had rung.

"The bell already?" Kairi asked as we stood up.

"Yep. Time for English in 325." Namine answered as we entered the hallway. We stuck together through all of our first four classes. As the bell for lunch rang, I headed out with Riku to get a table. As we were heading toward the cafeteria, the blond guy, Cloud, called out my name.

"I'll go see if our table is open." Riku said walking through the lunch doors. I nodded as Cloud ran up to me.

"Hey." He said.

"Hi." I replied kind of unsure about what he had to say.

"Look, I've heard a lot about you from Kairi. She's been my best friend since she moved to Star City and trust me, she brought you up a lot." His blue eyes stared at me.

"Really?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah," He nodded. "Look, she really really liked you and if you do anything to break her heart, it won't be pretty."

"I'm glad that you're protective of her." I said sticking my hands in my pocket. "Trust me, I wouldn't do anything to hurt her. If she's the same Kairi I knew back in elementary school, I will probably fall for her quickly. I actually was thinking about taking her out sometime soon."

"She'll be happy to hear about it."

"Just wait until I clear up a few things. I want to be the one to tell her." I said sternly.

"Hey Sora!" Riku called from the open lunch doors. I looked over to see Kairi and Namine on the ground just behind the doors. Riku noticed them too. "Oh crap!" Cloud and I ran over to help them up. Cloud pulled Namine to her feet and I pulled up Kairi. She had her eyes closed and went limp for a second so I had to catch her again.

"Thanks Cloud." She said rubbing her head.

"For what?" He asked looking at Kairi. Kairi slowly opened her eyes and saw me.

"Oh, heh. Thanks for helping me up Sora." She said stepping away from me.

"No prob." I grinned stupidly. Kairi's face lit up a little before she looked at Riku and glared. She slapped his arm.

"Riku!" She exclaimed.

"Ow! I'm sorry! I didn't see you guys there!" He pouted pathetically causing the rest of us to laugh. We walked into the packed lunchroom. I turned to Kairi.

"Want to eat with us?"

"I was going to eat with Namine and Selphie." She said hesitantly. I knew she was trying not to insult me.

"Actually, they eat with us." Riku said to her.

"Oh, heh, alright then." She smiled. We headed over to our usual table and reacquainted ourselves. After P.E. we had Computers which unfortunately had Christy's group. She tried to talk to me a couple times but I just ignored her. School went by a lot quicker than I thought it would. Riku and I headed home after turning down the offer for ice cream with the group. We sat down on my porch talking about today when I saw Kairi and Cloud walking down our street.

"Do they live near here?" I asked curiously as we watched them approach the house in front of Riku's.

"I don't know." Riku said. "Uh, I hope Kairi see's that skateboard coming up." Cloud slowed down and Kairi turned to look at him. She stepped on the skateboard which flew out from under her.

"Kairi!" I yelled bolting down my lawn and across the street. She landed on the ground. Her eyes were starting to close as Riku, Cloud, and I looked down at her.

"I'm going to go get my mom." Cloud said rushing into the house we were in front of. I leaned down and picked Kairi up.

"Do you think she's okay?" Riku asked looking at her head.

"I sure hope so." I said looking down at Kairi's face. Even though I'm sure she had changed in some way from when we last saw each other, I knew I was falling for her and quickly too. Cloud and his mom ran out. His mom went to the house next door and unlocked the door. We all walked inside where Cloud led me up to Kairi's bedroom. I gently laid her down under the covers and brushed away her hair from her face. Riku called up Kairi's mom and told her what had happened. She wanted us to stay with her until she got home from work.

As we waited, I looked around Kairi's room while Cloud played on her Playstation and Riku called up Wakka telling him what happened. Her room was a typical girls room. She had a lot of pictures from her childhood taped to the walls. I looked out the window toward my house before heading to the one facing Clouds. I noticed the tree branches and how they were perfect access for sneaking out or sneaking in... either way. Maybe about half an hour after Kairi passed out, her mom came home.

"Hey Cloud." I said since he was going to stay here until she woke up. "Can you give Kairi this." Riku and I had both written down our phone numbers for her. I also added Namine's just incase. I figured she'd want them sooner or later.

"Sure." Cloud said as I placed it on her bedside table.

Riku and I headed back to my house and hung around for a while. My parents invited him to stay for dinner. Since I couldn't wait to eat, I went downstairs to grab a couple cookies without my mom noticing. As I walked back upstairs, I heard Riku on the phone.

"I'm glad we're friends too, Kairi." I heard him laugh from my closed door. I opened it and looked at him. His eyes met mine with a huge grin. "Hey, here's Sora." I looked at him weird and took the phone.

"Hello?" I said.

"Sora?" Kairi asked nervously. "Who was I just talking to?"

"Oh that was Riku." I replied looking at him. He was trying to hold in laughter only making me more confused.

"Can I talk to him again?"

"Sure." I handed Riku the phone.

"Yeah?" He said to Kairi. I heard her yelling at him about something only making him laugh more. "Don't worry, I won't. Here's Sora." He handed the phone back to me.

"What was that about?" I asked her.

"Nothing. Anyways, I was just calling to thank you for earlier today." She said.

"Oh, no problem." I replied.

"Well, I better go. See you tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye Kairi."

"Bye." We both hung up to phone and Riku burst into laughter. I just stared at him until he calmed down.

"You're weird." I said to him.

"If only you knew what I knew." He said smiling at me.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing. You'll have to find out yourself." Riku reached down for one of my cookies. I hit his hand.

"Get your own cookies." I said stuffing one into my mouth and covering the others while Riku frowned.

**End of Flashback**

"Wow." Kairi laughed as she stroked Princess's golden fur.

"Yeah, that was one crazy day." I said putting my head down on hers.

"Well it led us up to where we are now." She smiled up at me.

"And I couldn't be any happier." I replied kissing her.

**A/N**: (Starting date: January 20. Ending date: January 20 - yep, same day) Aw lol Yeah there was no real point to this chapter. It's just nice seeing something from someone else's point of view. I feel bad for Sora but at least everyone, well the important people, happen to be happy. Lol and poor Riku at the end of the day, Sora had to be a cookie monster and not share haha. Okay, anywho, reviews would be awfully nice. They also receive sooner updates!

**A/N (prt 2)**: So I was rereading Dear Diary (obviously I had to remember what happened to write this chapter) and man have I come a long way. I'm pretty much proud of my writing (and being able to catch spelling and grammar mistakes better than before). Anywho lol a side note: I tend to get titles from song titles that can fit each chapter. You should really listen to _Had Enough _by Breaking Benjamin, it really works for Sora's emotions during his flashback. Yup, also, his advice in the beginning, you should definitely take it! (My own advice to people who have had or are having relationship problems). Welp, that's it n.n

** Don't forget to check out the Dear Diary Series WEBSITE! **(link located on my page)


	10. Winter Break

**Chapter 10**- Winter Break

Mid December was already here. Time was flying by before anyone really could grasp the reality of it. Sora was finally on winter break from school and had one day left at work, while I was on vacation already. We had planned a week at the beach house with the old group. We were already at the large beach side home that we had inherited from Elizabeth just waiting for everyone else to arrive.

"You checked all of the rooms to make sure they're set up for everyone, right?" I asked looking down my list of things to do. Sora was walking down the hall into the large open kitchen.

"Yes, dear," He sighed opening the fridge. I was in the living room that was connected with the dining room by a large open space. I glanced outback the sliding glass door to see the large wooden balcony that ran around the whole house with the ocean view. My eyes looked toward the bar table that linked the kitchen from the dining room where Sora was eating a bag of chips. "We have gone over that list numerous times."

"I know," I smiled walking next to him. "I just want this happy little reunion to go well."

"It will." Sora leaned up and kissed me. "So who's coming first?"

"I'm guessing everyone who lives nearby." I said glancing at the clock. It was around one in the afternoon. Our beach house was in the southern out skirts of Destiny City, closer to where we had grown up. It was twenty minutes away from my parents house. The doorbell rang and I rushed to see who it was.

"Hey Kai." Namine walked in and hugged me. Roxas was smiling behind her with luggage in either hand.

"Hey you two." I smiled happily, stepping aside to let them enter. Sora walked over and helped Roxas with the other bag.

"So where are we staying?" Roxas asked looking around the two story, downstairs living room, upstairs family room, seven bedroom, five bath, beach house. He had come with us when we took our first look here right after senior year, so he knew where everything was.

"Well, we were planning on having Kairi and me in the master bedroom on this floor. You two are in the room across the hall. Riku and Amanda are going to have the one next to yours. Cloud, Blake, and Josh agreed to share the other bedroom closest to the livingroom. Upstairs, Wakka and Lulu have a room, next to them will be Selphie and Irvine. Tidus and Yuna have the room across from Wakka and Lulu and lastly Alexa and Lissa will be next to their." Sora explained.

"This is going to be insane having us all live in the house together." Namine said as she walked into the house more.

"But it'll be fun. Just like old times." I said to her as we all walked down the main hall where our bedrooms were. About ten minutes had passed and the doorbell had rung again. Riku and Amanda had arrived and given a ride to Alexa and Blake. Over all, nearly two hours had passed by the time everyone had arrived to the beach house.

"Man, when's the last time we've all been together?" Tidus asked sitting down on the large lazy boy in the living room. He was much taller than he was back in high school. His blond hair became more sandy blond and shaggy. His body was definitely more athletic looking from being on the Blitzball team with Wakka. Yuna, who's hair only seemed just a little longer, sat on his lap.

"Well we left about four months after graduation." Selphie said smiling at her husband, Irvine.

"Then we moved a couple weeks after Tidus and Yuna moved to Besaid Island." Wakka said placing his hand on Lulu's stomach. She smiled up happily at him as she placed her hand on his.

"When's the baby due?" I asked eagerly. Lulu looked up at me then back at her stomach.

"May 1st." She replied. I was excited for the baby to be born. "We're going to get married mid-May."

"Wow." Lissa, who's honey blonde hair was down to her mid back. "Two marriages in a year."

"When is yours, Kairi?" Yuna asked me.

"Sometime in June." I shrugged. "Not really sure of a date yet."

"I think the sixth would be a good date." Sora announced randomly. I looked at him with a smile.

"You want to get married June sixth?"

"Yeah," He smiled back. "It's not too hot yet and it just seems like a good day."

"This is exciting." Namine grinned.

"Man does this bring back some memories." Cloud said leaning back into the couch.

"Memories of what?" His little brother, Blake, asked.

"Having all of us together and just talking." Everyone kind of talked amongst themselves about certain memories they had. I glanced around the room until I spotted Josh watching Lissa talk to Selphie and Irvine. His eyes saddened and that's when I remembered that they had not spoken since they broke up a little over a year ago. I wonder what he was thinking.

---

"Goodnight everyone." I said as we all headed to our separate bedrooms later that night. Sora closed the door behind us as I walked into the bathroom to change into my lilac camisole and flannel pajama bottoms. "What time do you get off tomorrow?" I asked through the door.

"Around 3:30." He called back. I finished getting ready and crawled into bed with Sora. He flipped on the television as I snuggled up close. "So is everything going according to plan like you hoped?"

"Seems to be." I said wrapping my arm around his chest. "Except I want to know what happened between Josh and Lisa."

"It really isn't any of our business."

"I know, but I'm still curious." I sighed.

"Curiosity killed the cat, you know." I looked up to see Sora smirking.

"It won't kill this cat." I smiled up at him. "Plus cats have nine lives. I still have another eight." He shook his head and let out a small laugh before watching whatever was on TV. About an hour had passed and I noticed that Sora had fallen asleep. I decided to get a glass of water and check up on everyone. I quietly got out of bed and walked down the hall, passed the living room, and up the stairs. It was ten at night and it was pretty quiet except for some of the rooms having their TV's on. As I was walking toward the family room, I passed the sliding glass door to the upstairs balcony. I heard Josh and Lissa talking since it was left slightly ajar.

"How's Star City?" I heard Lissa ask. I bent down and listened in.

"It's going good. How's the Restoration Committee going at Hollow Bastion?" Josh asked.

"Radiant Garden is slowly recovering." She answered. It fell silent for a bit.

"Why did you break up with me?" Josh finally broke the silence. "Yes, I know we discussed that it would be too hard to carry on a relationship long distance but seriously."

"We can't trust each other." Lissa said. "We already talked about this."

"More like you can't trust me or something. I trust you." He sighed with slight irritation.

"Josh," She sighed as well. "We had a huge argument about this already and I would rather we not have it again. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that neither of us know the temptations of long distant relationships. It's difficult."

"But you wouldn't even give us a chance!"

"I didn't want to chance us getting hurt!" Lissa cried out to him. No one said anything for quite a few seconds. I peaked around the corner to see what they were doing. My eyes widened to see them kissing under the moon light. _Aw..._I thought as I watched Josh pull his ex girlfriend into a loving embrace. He pulled away slowly and looked down at her. Her eyes were wide and soft as she stared up at him.

"Lissa, I haven't stopped thinking about you. I wouldn't ever hurt you." He said softly, brushing her hair to the side. Lissa just looked at him. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder causing me to jump back. I whipped my head around to see Sora looking at me. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" I said in a low whisper. A small, twisted smile appeared on his face.

"I thought curiosity didn't kill this," he pointed at me. "Cat."

"Well, you didn't technically kill me..." I said looking at the wall.

"Come on." Sora laughed quietly. "I told you, it was none of our business. I'm tired and next time I wake up, I want to make sure you're still in bed and not wandering off. I swear, you're like a little kid sometimes."

"Hey." I pouted. He put his arm around me as we walked back to our bedroom.

---

The following day, Sora left for work while the rest of us hung around at the beach house. Lissa and Josh would glance at each other every now and then but wouldn't say anything. I wish I could have stayed longer just to find out what had happened after that kiss.

Yuna, Amanda, Namine, and I were in the kitchen making an early dinner for all of us. Riku, Roxas, Cloud, Irvine, Tidus, Wakka, and Josh were all in the livingroom watching a Blitzball Game. Selphie, Alexa, Blake, and Lissa were out on the large wooden porch that looked out at the ocean, talking.

"I'm home!" Sora's voice called from the entryway.

"Sora!" The guys cheered.

"Come and watch the game with us!" Riku called from the big lazy boy chair.

"I'm going to take a small nap before we eat dinner, then I'll come chill with you guys." Sora said walking into the livingroom. I waved from the open kitchen. He grinned before heading down the hall.

"I'm gonna go check up on Sora. I'll be back." I told the girls while wiping my hands on a hand cloth. The girls suddenly had smirks upon their faces. "What?"

"You're going to go '_check up on Sora_', uh huh. I'm sure." Namine laughed. The other two laughed too.

"You guys!" I laughed. "Haven't I told you, Sora and I are waiting until after we get married." I shook my head and walked down the hallway.

"Have fun Kairi!" Amanda called from the kitchen. I just laughed as I made my way down to Sora's and my room. I put my hand on the door handle and opened the door. Once I got inside, I slowly closed the door behind me. Sora was sitting on the side of the bed stretching when he saw me.

"Hey there." He said with a warm smile. I bit my lip with a smile and ran over to him. I pounced on top. Sora managed to not fall back onto the bed as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Hey there, yourself." I said softly. He smiled before kissing me again. He gently put his hands on my back before rolling over, so some how I was laying down and he was on his hands and knees right above me. I started laughing.

"Pretty skilled, huh?" Sora said slyly.

"Yes, I'd have to say you are quite skilled." I grinned. Suddenly the door opened. Sora quickly managed to roll over next to me on his side while I propped myself up with my elbows.

"Hey, Sora, how do you work the stereo downst- oh... uh... was I interrupting you guys?" Roxas asked with some what of a smirk.

"Uh, no." Sora answered.

"Yeah, sure. Alright, I'll let you guys continue with whatever you were doing before I rudely interrupted. Remember, protection is key." Roxas laughed closing the door behind him. Sora buried his face into the pillow with a sigh while I smiled.

"How embarrassing." I heard Sora say.

"It's alright, you know." I said. Sora looked up at me with a nod.

"Now where were we?" He asked as he returned to the position he was at before his cousin walked in. He started to kiss me once more.

"Hey, Kai, where's the- never mind! I'm _so_sorry!" Amanda said wide-eyed. Sora quickly rolled over again and we both looked up.

"It's okay Amanda. Now, uh, what did you need to know?" I asked with a nervous laugh.

"Where the drainer is for the noodles..."

"Near the kitchen sink, second drawer down." I told her.

"Thanks Kairi. Um, sorry again." Amanda laughed closing the door behind her.

"Let's try this again." Sora said, once again he hovered over me on his hands and knees. I leaned up and started to make out with him. We started to get really into it. Maybe a tad more then we should of with guests in the house. It didn't get to the point with removal of clothes of course. Finally, we weren't getting interrupted during our moment.

"Hey, lovebirds, dinner is ready." Riku laughed from the doorway. Sora and I both looked up to see him leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed and a huge smirk upon his face.

"Doesn't anyone know how to knock?" Sora said taking a pillow and chucking it at Riku. The silver haired young man caught it and threw it back laughing.

"You two can get it on after supper." He said walking down the hallway as Sora caught the pillow.

"We're not having sex!" I yelled after him. Sora got to his feet and pulled me up.

"Let's go before they start assuming things." Sora said as he walked out of the bedroom. The two of us made our way down the hall and out into the diningroom where our friends were seated already.

"So we heard about what you were doing in your room. I thought you said you were going to wait until marriage?" Cloud asked with a huge smile. I shook my head and Sora looked at Riku.

"How long were you standing in the doorway?" He asked his best friend.

"Uh, let's say long enough to know if I didn't speak up, you two would of lost your virginity before the big day." Riku laughed, along with the rest of the table. I felt my face grow red.

"I seriously don't know how you guys haven't managed to lose it while we were in high school. I mean you two have been living with each other for a long time. With hormones raging in high school though, I'm surprised Kairi wasn't pregnant senior year." Cloud said scooping some spaghetti onto his plate. My eyes narrowed and one twitched.

"Trust me, it was hard to resist. We promised each other to wait until marriage just in case something went wrong though." Sora responded. I put my head in my hands.

"I can't believe this conversation is happening right now." I said to myself.

"Aw, is Kairi getting embarrassed?" Tidus laughed. I peaked through my fingers, so tempted to just flip him off.

"Shut up, Tidus." I replied. Everyone laughed. "I'm glad you guys find this amusing."

"You know you'd be laughing too if it were anyone but you." Josh smiled as he grabbed a slice of garlic bread.

"But unfortunately it is me." I said.

"I think we should eat and leave Kairi and Sora alone." My little cousin, Alexa, spoke up. I looked at her and smiled.

"Thank you."

"Of course." She grinned. We began eating with a couple topics being talked about here and there.

"Hey, you want to see a really cool trick that I learned?" Tidus asked us anxiously. We all watched intently as he placed a meatball on a spoon and balanced the spoon on the edge of his bowl.

"Tidus, no!" Yuna said right as he slammed his fist onto the opposite end of his silverware. The meatball went flying through the air with spaghetti sauce twirling behind it. Instead of the food making a clear entrance into his mouth, it hit the side of his mouth and landed into his soup bowl making a splash. The broth danced out of the bowl and onto Yuna and Wakka, who were sitting on either side of Tidus. Everyone began to laugh.

"Neat trick, Tidus." Roxas said sarcastically before he laughed.

"Want to see another one?" Tidus grinned with a saucy beard. His hand gripped into his spaghetti, lifting up the noodles and throwing them across the table at Roxas. My mouth dropped open as the red-ish golden noodles dangled helplessly off of Roxas's head. His blue eyes were wide with shock. Sora, Riku, Namine, Amanda, Cloud, and Tidus laughed the hardest.

"Are we seriously going to have another food fight like Thanksgiving a couple years ago?" I asked nervously. Next thing I know, spaghetti blurs my vision and lands down my shirt. I was too stunned to let a word escape my mouth. I looked to my right to see Sora's red hands above his plate as he laughed.

That was it. The food fight was officially on. We all dove into our plates and began to throw the food around aimlessly at the others. Noodles, meatballs, bread, and salads flew in all directions around the dinner table like a speeding highway. Sauce splattered onto the bar table, wooden floor, sliding glass door, and plenty of faces; while bread and greens clunked around the dining room and parts of the living room. We all laughed and yelled hysterically until the food fight ended about ten minutes after it started.

"Ew." Lissa said looking around at the huge mess that laid before us. "This isn't going to be fun to clean."

"Team work!" Wakka called out splashing a little more sauce around.

"Okay," I said picking off a spaghetti noodle from my head. "Wakka, Lulu, Tidus, Yuna, Lissa, Josh, Alexa, and Blake, you guys can clear the tables and get the washer going to clean the table cloth and our clothes. Please, when you change, don't drip anything anywhere."

"Will do." Blake said as they all got up from the table to go change into not so messy of clothes.

"Roxas, Namine, Riku, Amanda, Sora, and I will begin to pick up around everywhere else and scrub the floors and walls." I smiled patting Sora's squishy spikes.

"Too bad Princess is at your parents house." Sora said as he stood up. "She would love to help clean up." I laughed agreeing as I walked into the kitchen to get some cleaning supplies. Together we cleaned up the mess we made downstairs before deciding to have a camp fire outside with smores. The night was young and we still had things to plan.

**A/N**: (starting date: Jan 21. Ending date: Jan27). Ah, the group is back! Fun stuff right there! Lol I miss the group, it was fun with all of them around so I'm going to try to make at least two more chapters with all of them together. Hope you all enjoyed it!

**A/N prt2**: I don't know when I'll be updating this story next. I have started the eleventh chapter a while ago but I'm on hold because school is stressing me out plus my boyfriend is leaving March 11th for Marine Boot camp and he won't be home until the end of August (I'll see him in June for a day or two for his graduation but that'll be it). Hope you guys all understand. Thanks again for sticking with me!


	11. Winter Break prt2

**Chapter 11**- Winter Break prt 2

It was a cool night out on the beach. The tide was calm and quietly washed upon the shore. The clear, star-filled sky sparkled into the ocean. The glow of the orange flames in the fire pit crackled happily as we made our smores.

"This brings back a lot of good memories." Selphie, who was wrapped in a blanket with Irvine, said with a smile.

"I miss those days." Her husband said as he spoked the fire gently.

"What do you guys miss the most?" I asked staring intently into the dancing flames. I rotated my marshmallow topped stick above it.

"Not really having to worry too much," Namine said resting her head on Roxas's shoulder. "I mean, we had to worry about Shawn and his crew ruining all we had, but that was little compared to what we're up against now-a-days."

"It really is," Cloud continued. I noticed how he was looking at Namine. "Back in high school, if a relationship failed, it was almost common sense that it would work its self out. Now, you're not quite so sure of anything anymore. Now what we have to worry about are real jobs, college, house, apartment, and car payments. The pressure of real life hits you so hard that sometimes all you want to do is to go back to being a kid so the blow doesn't hurt as bad.

"I think we take what we have for granted way too much," Cloud continued. Everyone was now looking at him and listening attentively. I felt Sora's hand on my leg give me a reassuring squeeze. "We all worry too much on what other people say or do instead of relying on our own feelings and the close people around us. The stress of what can happen at work, school, or our own selfish needs reflect way too much into our relationships with the people we care about. We don't think about how our actions can impact the others around us. Over time we grow more selfish and focus more on our own personal needs. Our mind grow older and less free spirited because we're too scared to be judged by those who don't even matter, when all who matters sits before us."

"Wow..." Tidus said. "That was deep." We all murmured in agreement. Cloud finally looked away from Namine.

"I don't know if I want to grow up anymore." Blake frowned.

"Yeah," Alexa sighed. "Graduating from high school became a little more nerve wrecking."

"It's only advice. A little bit of a warning." Sora said. "I agree with Cloud on the stress of transition from high school to the real world."

"It's true what he said. It's up to you guys to try to avoid the negative effects." Riku said putting his arm around Amanda. I looked at Cloud who seemed to be off in his own little world. The group started talking again.

"Can you make me a smore for when I get back?" I asked Sora as I handed him my stick.

"Where are you going?" Sora looked at me as I got up.

"I'm going to see what's up with Cloud." I walked over to the other side of the fire pit and grabbed Cloud by the arm. "Let's go for a walk."

The two of us walked into the woods nearby. Soon the noise from the campfire died down. Cloud and I walked in silence for a couple minutes.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Cloud finally asked.

"Are you okay?" I looked at Cloud carefully.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied. I stared at him doubtfully.

"Don't lie to me." I said. Cloud focused his attention on me. We finally stopped and sat on the trunk of a fallen tree. He took a deep breath in.

"Well, Aerith and me are over." He finally admitted. I was stunned by this information.

"But you two seemed to be doing just fine. What happened?" I leaned forward to get a better look at him.

"Well, remember how I was telling you about my childhood friend, Zack Fair?" Cloud asked. Zack was Cloud's best friend growing up. Right before I moved to Star City, Zack moved away. They talked every once in a blue moon but haven't seen each other since he moved.

"Yeah, I remember." I nodded.

"Well he actually attends Simplicity University."

"You didn't tell me!"

"I guess before I moved there, Aerith and Zack were seeing each other. Something happened, a fight I guess, so they broke up. I moved around that time and that's when Aerith and I got together, about a month after her break up. Recently I found out that they still had really strong feelings for each other. She said she still loved him and never wanted to hurt me." I saw him stare at the ground sadly. It completely broke my heart. "I let her go because I wanted those two to be happy, even if it meant I wasn't going to be."

"Oh, Cloud," I said wrapping my arms around him. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." He nodded. "It was the right thing to do."

"If you feel that way." I sighed as I let go. "I have a question though. Why did you look at Namine the whole time you gave your speech?"

"I guess because I realize how happy she is with Roxas and if we never broke up, she wouldn't be with him and neither of them would be as happy as they are now." Cloud sighed.

"Cloud," I whispered. "You don't need to give up your complete happiness to make everyone else happy around you."

"Yeah..." We fell into a long, deep silence. I quickly began to think of anything that could lighten up the mood because I wasn't liking what was happening.

"Hey, hey," I laughed to myself as I hit his arm gently. "Remember back in twelfth grade when we went on our camping trip and we got lost?"

"Yes." He was very monotone.

"And we got chased by that tiger!" I laughed. I wasn't sure why I was laughing though because it seriously scared the crap out of me. I suddenly stopped laughing when I realized Cloud didn't say or do anything in response. I sighed heavily. The dark night sky wasn't as clear as it was when we first entered the woods. It had to be around eleven at night now. "We should probably get back."

"Yeah." Cloud huffed. We both stood up and looked around. He sighed heavily and put his hand to his face. "Tell me you know where camp is."

"I wish I could." I said staring around at the dark trees. Talk about deja vu.

"This is great." Cloud sat back down and covered his face with both hands this time.

"Please, don't turn emo on me now." I looked down at him. "You're supposed to be the male here and lead the way."

"Kairi, just sit down." I heard him say. I glared and sat back down stubbornly.

"Why does this have to happen to us?" I stared straight ahead. "I hope they look for us."

"I'm sure they will but it's quite possible that they get lost too. We should just wait until morning." Cloud and I both looked up once we heard a loud rumble from the sky. "Great. This is just great."

"Ah, just like old times." I sighed sarcastically. The rain started to trickle down from the tree tops and onto us. Cloud and I sat in silence while the rain picked up its pace and drenched us. I laid my head down in my crossed arms and tried to keep myself warm. I suddenly felt an arm wrap around me. Cloud was looking down at me and we hugged each other for warmth. Before I even realized it, I was fast asleep.

I woke up and the light was hardly shining down on me. I glanced around to see Cloud passed out on the log next to me. The forest was just a little damp from the rain last night but thankfully not drenching. I wasn't sure what time it was but it had to be around five or six in the morning. Thankfully it was light enough to see everything. I lightly shook Cloud awake. He slowly sat to an upright position and glanced around.

"We should probably get moving." He said. I nodded and we both stood up to stretch.

"So which way?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Cloud looked all around us. "I guess we'll go this way." Cloud and I began our journey to find camp and the others. We crossed over roots, branches, rocks, and plenty of plants. We hardly talked the whole way but I was okay with that. It seemed like hours had passed when I finally decided we needed to just sit down for a while.

"This is ridiculous." I sighed sitting down on a rock. Cloud shook his head and sat down on a bolder next to where I was sitting. "We're probably just getting further away from camp."

"This is stupid." He said with clear frustration. We just sat there not looking at each other for a good while before I noticed a little squirrel hop next to Cloud. It was obvious that he hadn't noticed it.

"Aw," I said. "It looks like Cloud made a little friend." I pointed next to him and he looked down. He smiled a little and went to touch it but it did something we weren't expecting. The squirrel hunched up its back so its fur was suddenly spiked. It showed its very sharp teeth. Cloud jumped up quickly.

"Rock!" He yelled frantically looking around. "I need a rock!"

"Don't kill it!" I said grabbing hold of his hand. The squirrel jumped forward to intimidate us and it worked. "Run!"

Cloud and I bolted through some trees. I didn't even bother to look back to see if the rabid squirrel was chasing us and neither did Cloud. We ran and continued to until we just couldn't take it anymore. We slowed down to catch our breath. Cloud looked around.

"Looks like we lost it." He said standing up straight.

"First a tiger then a stupid squirrel." I shook my head.

"Hey, look." Cloud was pointing through a few trees and I noticed a road with cars passing by. "We're near town."

"We made it all the way to town?" I was surprised considering how far the beach house was from the limits of town. Cloud and I slowly made it through the trees and stood on the side of the road.

"Well, now we know the general area of where we need to go if we just follow the road." Cloud said starting to walk. I had to run to catch up to him. "Man, I'm so hungry."

"Me too." I frowned knowing my stomach was about to growl. Suddenly there was a honk behind us and the sound of a car pulling up. We both turned around to see a black jeep with tinted windows. "Um, do you know who that is?"

"Yeah..." Cloud answered walking toward the car. The driver side opened to reveal a tall brunette. A girl that looked oddly familiar to me waved.

"Cloud!" She ran and pulled him into a hug.

"Hi Tifa." He said quietly. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," Tifa, who I remembered was an old friend of Cloud's before I came along, said. I think they even once had crushes on each other but I know Cloud got over it. "I'm actually using my vacation to travel around the island. "What about you? What are you doing out here?"

"Kairi and I got lost from the beach house." He pointed in the general direction of where we were heading. She glanced at me.

"Hi Kairi." Tifa smiled.

"Hi." I nodded with a smile.

"You know, if you'd like a ride, I can drive you back to your beach house." She offered.

"Oh thank you." I said quickly heading to her car. The other two got in the front while I climbed in the back. We were silent for a while before I saw Tifa glance at Cloud, who was staring out the side window.

"So, Cloud." She began. "How have you been holding up?"

"Fine." He replied without looking at her. I just stared at him in disbelief. The least he could have done was look at her or thanked her for her concern.

"I've been really worried about you. I know how much you cared for Aerith." Her voice was quiet and it was an obvious sign that she cared about Cloud's feelings. She still liked him, it was clear as day.

"Yeah." He answered still not looking anywhere other than the window.

"You know, we should really catch up since we're both going to SU together now. I miss hanging out with you." Tifa said.

"Yeah." I so wanted to just sit up and slap Cloud in the back of his head. Neither of them said anything the rest of the way. Fifteen minutes passed quickly which I was very thankful. Once we pulled up the driveway, Tifa turned to face Cloud.

"Don't be a stranger, okay?" She asked quietly.

"I won't." He nodded. "Thanks." Cloud hopped out of the car without any more to say. I leaned forward to get a good look at the one girl who could hopefully get Cloud of out his emo slump.

"Thank you, Tifa. We really appreciate it." I smiled.

"Of course." She nodded. I climbed out of the car and watched her start to back up. I looked up to see Cloud starting to climb the stairs to the front door.

"Cloud!" I called after him. He looked at me as I ran up after him.

"Yeah?"

"What the hell is your problem?" I asked. "It was obvious that Tifa is a great person and you pretty much deflated her bubble by being so dull to her."

"It's none of your business, Kairi." He shook his head before starting up the stairs again.

"I don't know what's gotten into you, Cloud, but you need to snap out of it." I replied following him. He opened the door to reveal the quiet house. Everyone must of still been sleeping or something.

"I'm going to bed." He said disappearing down the hall. I glanced around my quiet surroundings. I noticed the sliding glass door that led to the balcony was slightly open. I walked forward to see if someone was out there. Sora was in his pajamas leaning against the railing looking out toward the campfire from last night. I walked up quietly behind him and hugged him which caused him to jump.

"Kairi!" Sora said turning around to hug me better. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm just glad I'm back." I said into his chest. I felt him kiss the top of my head and hug me tighter.

"What happened to you two?" He asked quietly. I looked through the glass doors and down the hallway where Cloud left.

"I'll explain later. Right now, I'm starving." I answered.

"Come on, let me make you something to eat." Sora took me by the hand and brought me inside.

I sat at the table while Sora made me some coffee and french toast. He sat with me while I explained what happened last night.

"It's weird how different he's become." Sora said looking down the hall.

"Yeah," I frowned sipping on some orange juice. "It's sad."

The day went by and everyone was eager to hear what happened to Cloud and me. Cloud kept his distance from the rest of the group. It was in the evening and we had just finished eating dinner. We were all in the living room and dining room. Cloud sat furthest away from everyone messing around on his phone. I stared at him and wondered what had happened.

"What's wrong Cloud?" Namine asked. I noticed she, too, was staring at him in the corner of the living room.

"Nothing." He was still monotone.

"Are you lonely?" Selphie tilted her head.

"I take that as a yes." Amanda nodded to herself.

"He needs someone to love." Josh stated. "It's obvious. We're all paired up except for Cloud."

"Huh?" Cloud looked up at Josh. "You're single too."

"Actually," Lissa said brushing her honey blonde hair back. "We're trying to work out again."

"Great." He rolled his eyes before looking back at his cell phone. I tilted my head slightly angered by this.

"What is your problem, Cloud?" I asked.

"What's the big deal about love?" He sat up and you could tell he was annoyed. "Everyone is so caught up in it. Its like the world revolves around it. Does anyone even know what love is?"

"Love isn't easily described." Namine said. "We all have our own definition of what we consider love."

"Please," He leaned forward and tilted his head. "Explain what you guys all think is love."

"Love is something indescribable. It's to the point where no matter how much they hurt you, you can't just let the person go. You love them for everything they do: their faults and imperfections are what makes them even better in your eyes. Just being near them seems to brighten everything. The number of tears you cry for them, no matter how painful, it makes you realize they must have your heart because you can't seem to cry like that for anyone else. You'd rather fight with them than kiss someone else. You can't see a future without them in it. Your heart beats calmly but furiously at the same time when you see them enter the room. You catch yourself smiling when you're talking about them or hear about them. They're constantly on your mind. You relate any love story or song to your life or imagine you two are the characters they're talking about. You plan your life with them in it. No matter what anyone else says you know you're convinced they're the one. You have a strong gut and heart feeling that they're your ultimate destiny. To me, that's only the basics of love that you can really put into words." I said.

"Wow." I heard Sora say next to me. "It's where you are happy to see them no matter the circumstance." I turned and smiled.

"You can also tell you love someone by knowing no matter what they look like, you see the beauty in them because their personality shines brighter." Roxas said kissing Namine's cheek.

"It's being able to have a strong connection with the other person. One that you can't seem to find in anyone else, not your friends or family." Riku said looking at Amanda.

"It's being able to understand each other at their worst and being able to know the right thing to do to make things seem better no matter what." Irvine said causing Selphie to lean on him with a happy smile.

"Love is being able to flow with the changes of life and except all the downfalls and still manage to pick up every broken piece with great care." Josh stated placing his hand on Lissa's hand.

"Love is giving the ability to hurt you but trusting them not to." Tidus nodded as Yuna hugged him.

"It's having the ability to forgive but not always forget so you can learn from the mistakes." Blake said to his older brother. Alexa nodded.

"And it's also being able to know that no matter what, they're always there for you." Wakka added. Lulu smiled as she placed her hand on her stomach.

Cloud stared at all of us. I felt bad because we were all paired off and quite happy with who we had but Cloud was alone and really had no one to love. He had been disappointed a few times and I figured his ability to love was starting to deteriorate. I noticed him nod and look down at the ground.

"I think I'm going to go to bed now." He said standing up. "Thanks." We all sat in silence as he walked through us and into his room.

"I should go talk to him." I said standing up.

"Good luck." They murmured as I followed Cloud. I knocked and waited a second before opening the door. I saw him laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. I slowly closed the door behind me and went to sit next to him.

"What's really bothering you? You've been acting so strange since you got here." I said quietly. He didn't answer me right away.

"I already told you." He sighed.

"What? The whole you and Aerith thing?" I asked. Cloud nodded still not looking at me. "Look, you don't have to be in love to be happy. I know everyone makes it seem like that but remember when we lived in Star City? We were both single and very happy with life. We enjoyed the simple things and that was enough."

"But I want to be in love. I hate being alone and single." He said sitting up.

"You're just not looking in the right places. You're expecting everything to come to you. You're too scared to go out and look because you're afraid you won't find what you're looking for. Cloud, you're only twenty. You're expecting way too much for being so young."

"You make it sound so easy, Kairi." Cloud shook his head. "Everyone around me is in a relationship and they all seem to be so happy and in love. I want that. I don't like being the only one single. I really don't like hearing about how happy you all are, I mean, it's nice to hear it, I'm glad you all are, but I wish I felt that way too."

"I'm sorry about that." I said putting my hand on his arm. "It's not like relationships are always perfect. You will find someone who needs you as much as you need them. It may take time and I know you won't really understand until you find them. Life isn't going to rush to make you happy, you are the one who's in control of what you want. You have to be the one to go out there and find happiness, even if it takes another couple years. You can't just expect it to all come to you right now."

"It's so easy for you to say." He said.

"Not really," I scooted closer to him and he made room for me. "It's not like I enjoy seeing you so down about all of this."

"It's not like I enjoy seeing myself this way either."

"I have faith in you. You're such an amazing person. So many people care for you. That one person who needs someone like you is waiting too. They may not be anywhere near here but she's out there. Now it's just up to you two to make your moves."

"I want what you all of you have." He said fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"Who says you can't? You'll have it eventually."

"Maybe."

"No, no maybe. It's true." I smiled softly. "Come on Cloud. You have to cheer up. If you just sit around moping about how miserable you are, you'll never find her and she'll never find you. The world needs to see the Cloud we all know and love, that way the girl you're destined to be with can know what she's getting."

"I'll do my best. It may not be easy, but you're right." Cloud nodded. "Thank you, Kairi."

"What are best friends for?" I asked hugging him.

**A/N**: (Starting date: Jan. 31, End date: March 23) That was a difficult chapter to get over. I was in such a writers block it killed me. As you can see it took many months to get over it. For those of you who haven't read The Perfect Fall, my boyfriend's leave date was moved so I'm still having time to write more. Check the Dear Diary website for updates. Please and thank you for the reviews!


	12. Things Have Changed For Me

**A/N****:** I'm SO sorry I haven't even bothered working on this story. My boyfriend broke up with me on our two year anniversary (June 6, 2008) so I kinda went into a major slump. This story won't discontinue because of it though. It's near done (5 or 6 chapters maybe after this, not sure yet). Anyway, thank you for still sticking around if you're reading this. True fans you are!

**Chapter 12**- Things Have Changed For Me

Winter break went by faster than we hoped it would. Cloud eventually snapped out of his funk and even invited Tifa over to hang out with us. It was nice to see everyone come alive. It was sad to see everyone leave, but we knew we'd see them again at the wedding. Six months seems like a long time, but I knew it'd go by in a flash like everything else.

January brought in a little bit of a chill to Destiny Island, a little cooler than normal. I definitely would have thought it would be slightly warmer but the cool winter air wasn't all that bad. It actually called for some snuggle time with Sora which I really wasn't going to complain about.

The thought of work was a killer. It wasn't too bad though when we got back for the first week. Sora and I worked all the same days which made it more tolerable. Seeing Shawn wasn't. Every time he'd walk by my desk that was placed in front of Sora's office, he'd eye us carefully before moving on. The look was just a clue to him having something up his sleeve- I could tell.

It was our second week back at work when level 58 co-executives and their secretaries were called for a meeting. About twenty people shuffled into the large meeting room that was tucked in the back of our level. Our main boss, along with Shawn, was at the head of the elongated table with us facing them.

"Thank you all for coming in today." Our boss smiled cheerfully. "We have a big work opportunity that some of you may be interested in. I'll let Shawn explain it all."

"Thank you sir." Shawn said watching his boss sit down in a large chair next to him. Shawn tugged on his blue tie a little before placing his hands down on the glossy tabletop with a smile on his face. "I'd like to announce that Destiny Island Foundation is expanding it's headquarters. Since Destiny Islands has been expanding in population and governmental growth, it's time that D.I.F. in Destiny City receives some help from another fast growing city. The city that will be the second headquarters for us will be Star City."

I was quite surprised that we were now going to work together with the town I moved to. Maybe now that we were expanding, my friends there would be able to work for D.I.F. too and we'd have a better chance of getting to see each other more often.

"That's great news and all," Sora spoke up while leaning in casually. "But what does this have to do with us?"

"That's a very good question." Our boss waved happily at one of his best employees. I saw Shawn squirm uncomfortably a little before continuing.

"Well," Shawn said standing up straight. "We're going to need a few employees from Destiny City to help manage those who are going to start working in Star City. We're going to need at least two from this level to move on. There are benefits if you decide to go. You will get a pay raise and you will be in higher management."

"That sounds nice." I whispered into Sora's ear who nodded once without looking my way.

"Do we have any volunteers who would maybe consider this opportunity?" Shawn asked. About seven people raised their hands. I looked at Sora who looked at me.

"Would you want to?" He asked me.

"I'd want to think about it right now. Even though it sounds nice, we have a lot going for us here anyway. Plus, with in a month, you'll be getting your annual pay raise. And within maybe six months, you may be moved to the next level." I reminded him.

Sora smiled softly and patted my leg. "Okay." We both looked back to the front where Shawn was writing down the names of those who had their hands up.

"Alright," He said glancing back at his notepad. "I'll look over these for the next couple days and I'll announce who'll be moving on to bigger and better things when I figure it out."

Everyone stood up and started back to what they were originally doing. As Sora and I were walking back to our work area, we saw Roxas heading back into his office. He looked at everyone walking by.

"What was the meeting about?" He asked opening his office door and holding it open for us.

"Star City is going to start helping D.I.F. by being the second part of Destiny City's business." Sora said leaning against the door as he watched his cousin sit down in front of his computer.

"So you all had to go back there just to hear it? They couldn't just send a memo through the e-mails?" Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"Well," I said, "they need some workers from here to help get the other business on it's feet. There's a pay raise and a better job title."

"And they couldn't offer this to everyone?" His golden blond locks swayed back and forth as he shook his head with annoyance. "I think a lot more people could benefit from this opportunity instead of those who are already high ranked. No offence." He said looking up at Sora.

"No, I agree. They should be offering this to everyone in our level, not just the big shots." Sora said.

"You two should get back to work." Shawn suddenly appeared next to Sora in the doorway before leaving.

Sora rolled his eyes. "You heard the _boss_."

"We'll see you later, Roxas." I said following Sora out to our area.

--

"_Let's go." An 11-year-old, blond, blue-eyed boy smiled eagerly. I stared at my first friend here in Star City. He was charming and seemed to have many friends. I was a new student here at Star Middle and it was 6__th__ grade, big year for a 10, almost 11-year old. Our parents had started working together at Destiny Island Foundation about a month ago when they introduced Cloud to me. _

"_I don't think I'm ready." I looked from Cloud to the huge middle school in front of me. _

"_Kairi," Cloud laughed taking my hand. "I'm here. We can do it together. I'll show you around and introduce you to all of my friends. You'll love it here." _

"_Thanks, Cloud." I smiled shyly as we walked together up the front of the school. As soon as we walked through the entrance, my head became numb with the sudden chatter of the other students. "Wow."_

"_Hey!" Cloud called over to five people huddled together near some lockers ahead. We walked forward as they all turned their attention to us. "You guys, this is Kairi; she just moved here. Our parents work together and introduced us. Kairi, this is Jenna, Casey, Josh, Kyle, and Chris."_

"_Nice to meet you." I said hardly above a whisper. _

"_Where did you move here from?" Jenna, a girl with short blonde hair asked smiling happily. _

"_Destiny City." I replied a little more relaxed. _

"_Oh! I heard it's beautiful there!" The girl, known as Casey, with semi-long, light brown haired girl nodded._

"_It is. I miss it a lot."_

"_So why did you move here?" Kyle, who had gray-brown eyes and light brown hair, asked as he leaned against the set of lockers behind him. _

"_My parents got the job at D.I.F. here in Star City from Destiny City and we had to move here." I answered looking out the clear windows of the front doors. It was such a different scene, and I still wasn't quite used to the new feeling. _

"_Don't be scared," Josh, a tall black haired boy, smiled. "We'll take good care of you." _

_I smiled shyly. It was comforting to know I was getting new friends, but it was killing me inside knowing I left the ones who had always been there for me. Without warning, I felt all of the emotions hit me inside like a hurricane. Tears began to stream to the rims of my eyes and I suddenly felt embarrassed, sad, horrified, and numb all at once. _

"_Woah," Chris, the other blond in the group besides Cloud, leaned in with a worried look. "Are you okay?"_

"_I just miss home really bad." Shivers made their way down my spine. "Don't get me wrong, it's nice here and you guys seem like great people. I just miss what I had back home." And the uncontrollable tears began. I felt two people press up against me in a hug which I noticed were Cloud and Jenna. The others quickly joined in. I wanted to go home._

I sat up in bed to see the light glow of the moon shining through the blinds of my bedroom, hardly illuminating anything. Precious was sound asleep at the end of the bed while Princess was curled on the floor by me. I crossed my arms and put them on the top of my knees that were still covered by the sheets. A silent sigh escaped my mouth while I put my forehead into my arms. The feelings I felt from that first day at Star Middle were mingling inside of me as if the dream was me completely reliving my memory.

I felt a light tug on the sheets and I looked over to see Sora turning toward me still asleep. He subconsciously tried to cover himself which he must of consciously knew wasn't happening. Sora's blue eyes started to open with some struggle.

"Kairi..." His voice was hardly audible. "Is there something wrong? Why are you awake?"

"I just woke up from a dream, that's all." I said scooting back to lean against the wall. Sora's hand found it's way to my stomach and rubbed it lightly for comfort.

"What was it about." He asked starting to wake up a little more.

"It was more of a memory. It was the first day of 6th grade at Star City. I forgot how much I missed home and how scared I was to be so far away from everyone." I looked down at my hand that found its way to Sora's. He sat up and pulled me to him.

"Is this you telling me that you don't want to go to Star City?" Sora asked moving his hand to caress my cheek.

I shrugged. "Maybe. I'm not even sure. I mean, it was nice meeting everyone at Star City and we'd actually be with each other this time, but I don't think I could bare to leave Destiny City again."

"Then we won't." He said pulling me toward him. "We didn't even raise our hands, so we'll be fine. We're staying where we belong."

I leaned over and kissed him. He smiled back before we made ourselves comfortable back in bed to go back to sleep.

The following morning, Sora showed more affection toward me than he had in a while. I felt like I was in high school all over again. He cooked me breakfast before we went to work. Once we arrived, there was a very notable change in how everyone was acting.

"Is it just me," Roxas had appeared right behind Sora and myself. We turned to look at him. "Or is everyone extremely hard working today?"

"It definitely isn't just you." I said watching everyone with a title hurry around transferring papers or typing rapidly at their computers.

"I guess they're trying to prove that they can be the one to take the job in Star City." Sora said as he headed toward his office. I followed him as Roxas shook his head and went his own way.

Nearly two hours had passed and I had never felt so swamped with work. With everyone walking on eggshells but doing it quickly, I became congested with paperwork. I stared at my computer at disbelief at how much I needed to do. There was suddenly sitting in front of me. I looked up to see Shawn. It caught me off guard.

"How's work going?" He asked glancing around my desk.

"Busy." I sighed irritably.

"Well," Shawn leaned forward and crossed his fingers. "I've decided who will be going to Star City."

"Really?" I asked with no expression of even caring as I continued on with my work.

"Yep." He leaned back casually. "You and Sora will be set to leave next week."

I immediately stopped doing what I was doing and looked up. "What?" My voice was firm and irritable.

"You and Sora will be the two to go to Star City." Shawn said. By this time, Sora walked out of his office and heard what Shawn had said.

"Excuse us, but we never volunteered to leave." He said standing next to my desk.

"We're not leaving." I said standing up.

"You do what I say Kairi, I am the boss over you and Sora, both." Shawn said standing up and crossing his arms. Sora glared a deadly glare at our boss while he stood next to me. Employee's near by started to gather interest in what was going on in their work place.

"We're not going to go to Star City for a year to work." I answered. "This is my home and people are willing to go and transfer to Star City, so why don't you go and let them have the job and leave us alone."

"You're familiar to Star City. You and Sora would be best for the job." He replied.

"So are Johnny, Jake, and Anna! Let them take the job! I'm not moving away from home!" I yelled. Shawn stood closer with a deep glare. Sora backed me up and stood in between us.

"You two are taking the job."

"Why don't you shut up, Shawn." Sora told our old high school enemy.

"Hikaru, I can fire you on the spot. Don't make me do it."

"This doesn't have anything to do with work. You know you're holding a grudge from high school. You're still jealous that everyone actually likes me and I don't have to try. You're jealous that my life will always be better then yours." Sora hissed.

"There is one thing I have against you." Shawn said in a low and quiet voice. "I had everyone on my side in high school, including your girlfriend. That just proves that my authority will always be higher then you, _asshole_." Before any of us saw it coming, Sora punched Shawn in the face. My eyes went wide as Shawn yelled in pain, clenching his nose and falling back into the chair. Shawn looked up at Sora with narrow eyes. He quickly stood up and got right in Sora's face. I quickly stood in front of both of them with my hand straight in the air.

"That's what you deserve for all the shit you put us through in our senior year!" Sora said from behind me.

"Stop it!" I yelled at Shawn. "Don't you touch him!" The elevator door opened. My hand closed into a fist once I noticed our boss for level 58 enter. Shawn dropped his hands from his face. Blood was over his hands and around his nose. It was clear that Sora had broken it.

"What's going on here!" Our boss yelled. "Kairi, did you punch Mr. Johnson!"

"No, it wasn't Kairi, it was me." Sora tried to say before I stopped him.

"Yes, it was me, sir. Sora just doesn't want me to take the blame. Shawn was pushing me over the limit by trying to send Sora and I to Star City. He's been holding a grudge since day one of meeting Sora." I told our boss. Shawn and Sora both looked at me shocked. The boss shook his head and sighed.

"You're behavior was unnecessary Miss Hikari." The boss said sternly. "I'm afraid assault on a higher authority figure will result in dismissal from Destiny Island Foundation. I'm sorry. Will you and Mr. Johnson please follow me. The rest of you, get back to work." Shawn and I both followed the boss into the back of our department, into his office where we both sat down.

"Miss Hikari, I'm sad to see you go. You were such a good worker. Like I said; however, any physical action toward another employee does result in dismissal. I want you to please gather your belongings and your last check will be sent at the end of the week." Our boss said. I looked down at my hands in my lap and nodded slowly.

"Okay, sir." I said quietly.

"As for you Mr. Johnson, I think you may need to take a week off from work to cool yourself down. You've been over working yourself. By the time you return to work, you are to leave Mr. Hikaru alone. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." Shawn answered with a nod.

"You two may go now." Shawn and I both stood up and walked out. I walked out in a faster pace, avoiding Shawn by all means. I headed back to my desk where Sora was just walking out of his office. He ran up to me and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry I got you fired! You should have let me take the blame. It was my fault. You don't know how bad I feel!" Sora said.

"Sora," I pulled away from the hug. "It's okay. I didn't want to work here anymore. Yeah, I love being able to work with you but the atmosphere here is killing me." I started to gather my things. After I got all that I needed, I turned to my fiancé, kissed him and smiled. "I'll see you at home." With that said, I walked into the elevator and watched everyone disappear behind the closing doors for the last time.

I walked outside with a renewed feeling. Life wasn't going to be all that bad away from D.I.F. My life was only looking up. I was now away from the drama and busy lifestyle. I got into my car and smiled. There was no turning back to my past. It's all future from here.

I drove down the street toward The Wave at Town Square where I knew Amanda was at work. I parked in the nearest parking spot before walking confidently into the store. No one was in sight when I first walked in, but I knew the jingling bells would reveal someone. Amanda walked through the back curtain to the front counter. She looked up at me before looking at the nearest clock in the store then looked at me with a confused expression.

"Um, shouldn't you be working right now?" Amanda asked walking forward. I continued to smile which I could tell made her slightly more confused.

"I got fired." I admitted.

Amanda's expression when from confused to extremely confused. "You seem awfully happy about that. You do know that's not normal, right?"

"Sora punched Shawn in the face." I decided to tell her. "I took the blame. I'm finally free from the drama I had from high school."

Even though she seemed slightly lost, Amanda nodded with a smile. "Finally. Hopefully..."

I laughed. "Yeah, seriously. You should come over later to celebrate."

"That's a first. Celebrating someone getting fired."

"There's a first time for everything." I grinned.

--

I was sitting on the little step in front of my apartment, drinking some iced tea and reading a book. It was near five- about the time Sora should be arriving home from work. Princess was laying next to me, enjoying the winter, evening air. I was reading to get inspired for the next _Speak _write-in. I was already in the top 50 choices and I was trying to decide on what to enter for the decision of the top 25 entries.

Princess lifted her head when she heard someone nearing the door. I looked up as she jumped to her feet. "Hey," Sora said loosening his tie from his neck.

"Hey." I smiled as I closed my book and stood up. Sora caught me off guard when he rushed to pull me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry that you got fired." He whispered in my ear.

"Sora," I laughed, "I told you that it was fine. I needed to get out of that place." I separated myself from him but kept him in arms length. "First off, it's a good thing to have a little separation between us. Working and living together can be too much for a couple. Second, the drama and atmosphere was suffocating me. I needed to get out of there. Third, working for D.I.F. is your future. Not mine. Everything is just going to get better from here."

Sora pulled me into a hug again. "God I love you." He said into my neck before kissing that spot gently. "Your optimism is what we need in our lives."

"I know." I smiled before leaning back to kiss his lips.

"Well I have a surprise for you." Sora said resting his forehead against mine.

"And that surprise would be?" I asked quite interested.

"My parents invited us to come for a week. It'll be from February 13th through the 20th. And you have a very special valentine surprise." He grinned mysteriously.

"Oh," I smirked. "I'm looking forward to this vacation."

He stood straight up and kissed my forehead. "Good, cause I am too." Sora winked at me before walking passing by to enter our apartment.

**A/N**: (_Start_: July 2, 2008- _End_: August 3, 2008) About freaking time, I know. Again, I'm super sorry! My ex and I are working things out slowly so that's the good news. I have a job now and school is starting up again soon so I don't know how often updates will happen (bad, bad, bad, I know. I'm sorry!). I'm trying. I do have quite a few ideas for the next chapter so hopefully it won't take me 5 months this time to update. For all of you who are still sticking by my side, I love you!


	13. A Whole New World

**A/N: **It's been a while (obviously) so if you can't remember what happened, visit the Dear Diary website (link located on my profile) and go to the Dear Diary sections because it has a quick review on what's happened in every chapter since Dear Diary to Dear Diary 3 chapter 12. Or if you've reread it all and this is where you've left off… well here it is!

**Chapter 13**- A Whole New World

It was already the second week of February and it Sora and I were getting ready to see his parents that lived on a few islands away. The sun was bright without a single cloud in the sky as the cool winter breeze lapped at the water anxiously. As we gathered all of our stuff at the boarding dock the next day, all I could think about was when Sora moved away three years ago.

_"So you're really leaving." I looked around, examining his walls that were once covered with posters._

_"Yeah. I sure am going to miss this place," Sora said._

_"So where are you moving to anyways?" I asked him._

_"Three islands away." I looked away._

_"This really sucks." The words quietly came out._

_"Well, let's let my parents take care of all these things. Let's go out," Sora said taking my hand and pulling me outside. We walked hand in hand together down the sidewalk. Sora took me out to eat brunch. After it was over, we went out to the beach where I had asked him out. I stood along the shoreline, with my hands behind my back, just staring. Sora walked down the shoreline a bit, with his hands in his pockets. I think he was in deep thought too. Sora turned back around and walked up to me. I looked at him._

_"I don't want you to go. I'm going to miss you too much," I said._

_"I'm going to miss you too. Even though I'm gone, I don't want you to sit around constantly thinking about me. I want you to find someone," Sora said. I looked down and slowly nodded. '__I don't want anyone else but you.__' He wrapped his arms around me. I felt his cheek against mine. He was so warm. "Can I have this dance?" His breath tickled my ear. I nodded. He pulled away from me. Sora placed his arms around my waist as I placed my arms around his neck._

_We started to sway back and forth. I guess our music was the sound of the waves crashing along the shore, along with the birds. This was so depressing. I couldn't believe this was the last bit of time I was going to spend with Sora. After a while of dancing, we sat on the dock._

_"So are you excited at all?" I asked._

_"Not really."_

_"I just realized something," I stated._

_"What?" Sora asked._

_"We still have two weeks of school left. You're not going to be here."_

_"Nope. My summer is getting started early." I sighed._

_"I still can't believe you're leaving." Sora put his arm around me._

_"As long as you're wearing that ring, we're destined to keep our promises," Sora said. I nodded looking at my ring._

_Me, Namine, Cloud, Riku, Amanda, Selphie, Tidus and Wakka, not forgetting Princess as well, were all on the shore where there boat was taking Sora and his family away from us. They were loading all of the things onto it. Sora stood in front of us with his hands in his pockets._

_"I'm going to miss all of you," Sora said looking at each and every one of us. He went down the line saying goodbye to everyone, starting with Wakka. I was at the end of the line, with Princess in between Nam and me. When Sora got to Princess, he bent down and hugged her. Sora faced me. We both stood there for a bit. Sora wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him too. I once again started to cry like a baby. Sora pulled away from me, and put his hand under my chin to pull my face to his. We kissed. I didn't want it to end. He pulled away slowly._

_"Goodbye Sora," I choked out._

_"Bye Kairi. I love you." Sora turned around and started to walk up the dock to the boat that had just let out a whistle to know that it would be leaving soon._

"I'm so excited to see my parents again," Sora said eagerly as he handed his bags off to a loader for the boat. Roxas and Namine were there to drop us off and see us go. I smiled lightly trying to shake the memory out of my mind. This time it was going to be different. I was going to be with Sora and we were sticking together.

Namine grinned at us, "you're so lucky. You two definitely need this though, especially after what happened with the whole Shawn thing at work."

I rolled my eyes but nodded, "tell me about it. I'm excited too." I looked at Sora. "And it's even better that we're going together this time compared to you just leaving."

Sora pulled me into him for a hug. "Never again."

The whistle for the boat let out some steam warning us that we had about five minutes to board. We said our farewells to Roxas and Namine and started up the dock. "Be _safe_ you two!" I heard Roxas call. I glanced back to see him winking. Leave it to Roxas to even bring it up.

Sora just laughed and pulled me along. "Let's go."

Sora and I sat in the middle floor of the boat for the duration of the five hour boat ride. I worked on my next story for the _Speak_ writing competition while Sora worked on some paperwork for D.I.F. Sora nudged my shoulder and pointed out the window. All I could see was hundreds to thousands of tropical trees. It flourished with greenery and bright, brilliant colors as couple tall skyscraper buildings dared to peak above them. I knew it was part of the Destiny Island chain but this island was definitely more for the adventure seekers with its wildlife scenery instead of the opportunist. The boat let out a high pitched whistle to let us know we would be docking soon. Sora stood up eagerly.

"You're excited, aren't you?" I asked standing next to him.

"I can't wait to see my parents," he grinned pulling me toward the doors. We walked out into the balcony and I was instantly hit with warmth. It was much warmer than the main island. Sora peered over the railing to see the loading dock with quite a few people waiting for us to arrive. He squinted hard until two people waved their arms in the air. He began to wave back like no tomorrow. I began to laugh as I, too, waved at his parents.

As soon as the walking plank was settled onto the dock, we bolted down the ramp. Mr. and Mrs. Hikaru pulled us into a hug.

"Oh, how I've missed you…" Yuri, Sora's mother, said wiping a tear away from her face. Sora pulled back and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I've missed you too, mom." Sora smiled at her. Her dark brown hair was pulled back and her green eyes softened as she pulled her son into a hug again.

Ryuu, Sora's dad, patted his son on the back. "Glad you two could make it." Sora looked extremely similar to his father with the same crazy brown hair and sapphire eyes.

I smiled at the family reunion. "We wouldn't pass up spending time with you guys," I replied.

Ryuu put his arms around Sora and me and began to guide us. "Let's go get your things and then head home. We have a very big surprise back at the house." I looked at Sora who shrugged.

For the car ride to the Hikaru's home, I stared outside at the breathtaking scenery while Sora and his parents talked. It looked like all the houses were nestled safely behind all the shrubbery and trees. It almost seemed as if no one even lived on this island since there didn't seem to be any sign of a town or real neighborhoods around. About fifteen minutes into the drive, we pulled up to a tall wall of well-groomed bushes and a large metal gate. It slowly opened and we drove forward down a small dirt pathway.

"We're home!" Yuri cheered. I examined the two story home in awe. It wasn't a mansion but no way was it small either. The white home was covered with windows that out looked the ocean on the other side.

I turned to look at Sora who was smiling wide, "you left _this_ to come back to the main island?"

He leaned in and kissed my forehead, "just for you." He hopped out of the car and I shook my head. I followed Sora to the trunk where his mother and father were, helping us unload our luggage. Sora looked up the curved driveway. "Whose cars are those?" I looked to see three more cars parked.

"That's part of the surprise," Ryuu smiled leading the way up the stairs. His parents looked extremely anxious. We walked up the stairs to the balcony and walked inside. The floors were a polished hardwood that reflected the light from the sun and ocean that was easily seen though the large glass doors across the room. The house almost seemed like a fancy hotel. "We're back!" Ryuu called into the empty house… or so we thought.

I heard footsteps coming from one of the rooms. Three people came from around the corner smiling. Two of them were holding hands while the other one…

Sora shook his head, "Roxas?"

Yuri came over and put her hands on mine and Sora's shoulders. "That's not Roxas."

The blond haired kid that looked _identical_ to Roxas stepped forward, "my name is Ventus."

I started laughing, "Roxas, what are you doing here?"

He shook his blond head and stared at Sora and I with his deep blue eyes that matched Sora's so well. "Really, I'm not Roxas. I'm Ventus."

Sora turned to his mom, "what's going on here?"

The girl with blue hair that went just below her chin waved while her other hand was occupied with the hand of the tall guy with brown hair. Her voice was soft, "my name is Aqua and this is Terra."

"Sora," Yuri stood next to him. "Aqua is a young lady that works with me at the elderly homes, Terra is her boyfriend, and Ventus… there's a reason he looks so much like your cousin Roxas."

Ryuu put his arm over Ventus's shoulders. "Ventus is your cousin. He's Roxas's twin brother."

Sora looked confused. "How haven't we known about Ventus before?"

Ventus looked at Sora, "my parents put me up for adoption when Roxas and I were born."

"How come no one told us this before?" Sora said looking at his parents. "Does Roxas even know?"

Ventus shook his head, "no, my bother doesn't know. One of the reasons I knew was because I never looked like my brother, Terra."

My head was spinning. Terra cleared his throat, "my parents adopted Ventus just a week after he was born. He grew up knowing he was adopted so he wouldn't have to find out when he got older and it could make things worse. My parents knew the Hikaru's weren't going to be able to afford caring for twins. They were still too young to even really care for themselves. We moved from Twilight Town a couple months later and wound up here."

"Wait, wait, wait," Sora shook his head and put his hands up. "Let me get this straight. I have another cousin who looks identical to Roxas, and Roxas doesn't know about this and neither do I? How come you never told me about this?" He looked at his parents.

"I was in too much of shock that my younger brother even thought about giving up Ventus from the start," Mr. Hikaru said shaking his head. "I always knew he was careless but to give up a life was a bit extreme. However, like Terra said, Masuyo and Evany could hardly care for themselves let alone two newborns. It was the hardest decision on both of them, but they gave up Ventus to a better home where he could be taken care of while Roxas stayed with them. It was too heart breaking for the family so that's why no one said anything to you two growing up. It was better that way."

"So how did you figure out that you were the long lost family member…?" I asked unsure if I should even be a part of this new family discovery.

Yuri smiled, "well, I had been working for the elderly home for a while and so when Aqua started a month ago, I offered to train her. After a few weeks, I offered for her to come to dinner and invite her boyfriend and roommate that she was always talking about. When I opened the door that night and saw Ventus, I reacted the same way you two did," she said looking at Sora and I.

"I came to the door to meet our guests and noticed Ventus first," Ryuu said. "When I repeatedly asked him if he were Roxas Hikaru and he kept denying it, it started to come together. I looked up at Terra and asked him if he was related to the Akio's and he said he was Terra Akio. I mentioned something about his family and that's when Ventus asked if I knew his _real_ parents, the Hikaru's. I mentioned that if he was talking about my brother Masuyo Hikaru, then yes. It was the craziest night."

I heard Sora take in a deep breath and sigh heavily. "Well, this will definitely take some time to get used to this," he turned to Ventus and held out his hand. "Welcome to the family, Ven."

Ventus smiled, "thanks."

"Next step… telling the Hikaru's," Terra said.

"So Uncle Masuyo and Aunt Evany don't even know yet?" Sora asked. His parents shook their heads.

"They're on their way to pick up Roxas right now and then they'll be arriving tomorrow morning," Ryuu said. Man, this was going to be interesting.

I think Mrs. Hikaru could sense the changing atmosphere so she insisted that Ventus help us to Sora's old bedroom. Once we got in there, I sat on the bed and stared at the Roxas look-a-like. "Wasn't it hard knowing you were adopted this whole time?"

"It was at first," he replied taking a seat in one of the chairs by the window. "But I'm glad that my parents just didn't give me away to some careless people. The Akio's were so good to me that I almost didn't want to know about my real family."

"Well Ven," Sora said patting his "new" cousin on the back, "I'm glad that you're apart of the family. I promise you'll be glad you are."

He smiled at Sora, "thanks."

"Let's go for a walk and get to know each other a little better? Maybe we can think of a way to break it to Roxas that he's not an old child after all," Sora said before looking at me. "is that okay?"

"Of course!" I smiled. "I'm going to explore this amazing house." Sora came over to me and kissed me before leading his cousin out the door. I looked around the large room that could have been the size of a master bedroom. There wasn't much in it but that was because Sora packed all of his things to move back to Destiny Islands. I walked out onto his very own balcony that had a perfect view of his green backyard and the endless ocean. I pulled out my phone to take a picture and send it to Namine, but noticed I had barely any reception- just like Sora. I closed my eyes taking in the sweet aroma of the salty sea.

_I sat outside of my house on my doorstep staring at the moon. I sighed and clenched my cell phone tightly in my hand. I pressed a button for my screen to light up. It was 10:06 pm. I growled to myself and dialed Sora's number again. I pressed my phone to my ear and listened to it ring for the hundredth time. It rang twice then went to voicemail. I shut my phone angrily and slammed it on my porch. _

"_Are you okay?" I jumped; startled that someone was near me. Shawn put his hand up, "sorry if I scared you."_

_I looked at him surprised. "What are you doing here?"_

"_Mind if I sit down?" he asked ignoring my question. I nodded, scooting over to make room for him. He sat down and gave me a half smile. "I saw you sitting out here and you looked kind of upset, so I just came by to see if you were okay."_

_I put my head in the palms of my hands and sighed. I looked up and returned the smile. "Yeah, I'm just trying to get a hold of someone, that's all."_

"_How long have you been trying to get a hold of this person?"_

_I looked up at the moon. It had been a month since Sora had moved and I still hadn't talked to him more than a couple minutes. The reception was horrible on his end. I was starting to feel empty, but my feelings for him weren't fading. I looked at Shawn. His green eyes shimmered in the moonlight. He almost liked like Sora… almost. "For too long to put it simply."_

_He gave me a short nod. "I'm sure you'll get a hold of them soon."_

_I shook my head and cleared my throat, "so what made your parents want to move here?"_

_Shawn smiled, "I'm not sure really. Half of me resent them for it, but half of me is glad."_

_I sat and thought before speaking again. "Is there anyone you left behind that you would give anything to have back in your life?"_

_He looked down at his hands before looking back at me, "yeah."_

"Hey, Kairi?" a voice called from inside of Sora's room. I walked back in to see who it was. Aqua was smiling at me, "oh there you are."

"Hi Aqua," I smiled.

"Would you like to help me set up the table for dinner?" she asked.

"Sure." I followed her down the stairs to the large dining room. I traced her steps into the kitchen just on the other side of the dining room wall.

"Mrs. Hikaru talks about you and Sora so much," she said handing me some silverware.

"Really?" I asked, again following her into the dining room and setting up the table.

"Yep. Ever since I started working with her, she always mentioned Sora and his fiancée. You two are just how she described you," Aqua tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled sweetly at me.

"Well I want to get to know you if you know so much about me," I smiled back.

She hummed to herself, "well, I'm twenty two. I've been dating Terra for nearly three years. He was my best friend for years but I was dating someone else so we never were more than friends forever. I graduated in 2007, along with Ventus and Terra graduated the year before us. I moved out with Terra and Ventus about a year ago to our own place and I obviously work with Yuri."

I laughed taking a handful of plates from her and walked back into the dining room setting them down on the table. I took a couple at a time and started circling the table placing a plate in front of each chair. "There's got to be more than that. How come you never went after Terra sooner? Especially if you knew you had something for so long?"

Aqua turned the corner, "you know how young love is. You think you know what you want but you never really do. I was kind of lost. I loved my boyfriend but I loved Terra. Gosh that makes me sound horrible."

"No it doesn't. I totally understand what you mean. High school is all sorts of confusing. How did your ex take you breaking up with him for Terra?"

"He never found out that I ended up dating Terra. They didn't really get along to begin with, so it made it easier when my ex moved away. I was heartbroken, don't get me wrong. Everything just played out better, that's all."

I smiled, "well that's good that everything all worked out that way. How long ago did you say this was?"

She put her hand to her cheek, "Shawn moved away right at the end of our junior year and I started dating Terra in the beginning of my senior year."

My heart stopped for a second, "what's your ex's name?"

Aqua replied, "Shawn. Shawn Johnson. He moved to the main island and that's why we broke up. We knew better than to try out a long distance thing."

I dropped the plate I was holding.

"Kairi!" Aqua ran over to me. "Are you okay? No glass cut you did it?"

I quickly snapped out of it when Yuri, Sora, and Ven came running in. I immediately bent down to start picking up the broken shards. "I am _so_ sorry!" Everyone came together to help pick up the plate.

"Kai, what happened?" Sora asked putting his hand on my back.

I looked at him wide-eyed. "I-I I'm fine. Really, I am. I got a little woozy, that's all."

"Maybe you should go lay down for a bit. I'm sure that boat ride gave you a bit of sea sickness," Yuri said helping me upright.

"I'll walk you to the room," Sora said taking my hand. I followed him up the stairs. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked again once we were out of ear shot from anyone else in the house.

"I just found out that Aqua and Shawn dated." Sora just stared at me.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Dead," I replied. We closed the bedroom door behind us once we got into the room.

"I just found out that Shawn is coming to the island sometime this week to look over some land. He's thinking about expanding D.I.F. here too," Sora said sitting on the bed.

"He's going to be here? His old hometown?" Sora nodded. "Aqua told me that Terra and Shawn didn't get along very well when Shawn was here."

"Shocker," he said rolling his eyes.

"Aqua also told me that Shawn never found out that Aqua and Terra ended up together. When I first meet Shawn, the summer he moved in and you moved here, he told me that there was someone he would do anything for to have back."

"Aqua."

"Exactly."

"What do you think we should do? Keep everything on the down low when we find out that Shawn gets back?" Sora asked.

I shrugged, "it's not our place to say. I think we're going to need to worry about Roxas and his family meeting Ventus before we even consider getting involved with Aqua, Terra, and Shawn."

"Sounds like a plan." He kissed my forehead. "I'm going to go help downstairs. You get some rest and I'll come get you when dinner is ready."

I laid back on the bed. "I love you."

He smiled back before closing the door. "I love you, too."

Luckily for me, no one questioned the whole dropping a plate the night before. The Hikaru's, Sora, and I were at the docks waiting for the next boat to arrive with Roxas and his parents. They had no idea why they were on their way here but I was sure that they would be more than surprised. Ventus was back at the house with Terra while Aqua worked.

"There's the boat!" Yuri exclaimed pointing to the boat turning the corner.

"Roxas is going to die," Sora said putting his arm around me. It wasn't much longer until the boat came to a stop at the loading docks and Roxas and his parents were walking down to meet us. A woman with dark blonde hair and light blue eyes followed behind Roxas while a man with light brown hair and those Hikaru eyes walked behind her.

"Masuyo! Evany!" Yuri smiled embracing them. She turned to Roxas and pulled him into a hug as well. "Oh Roxas."

"It's so lovely here!" Evany, Roxas's mom, said taking in the scenery.

"I'm definitely going to enjoy some ocean time while we're here," Masuyo nodded rubbing his son's spiky hair.

"Dad!" Roxas said trying to fix his already messy hair. "So what are we doing here anyway?"

"Spending some family time together, duh," Sora said leading the way to the car. We ended up taking two cars, one for Roxas, Sora, and I and a second for the parents to talk about the real reason for a random visit. "We'll meet you at home!" Sora called to his parents as we climbed into our car.

"I thought you had a surprise for your woman over here," Roxas said peeking forward from the backseat.

"I do have one. But we can also have family time," Sora said eyeing his cousin from the rear-view mirror.

"What are you planning on doing for Valentine's day for Namine when you get back," I asked suddenly remembering it was the 14th all ready and realizing Roxas and Namine couldn't be together because of this surprise.

"Well, nothing super special because we just want to be together. Just go out to dinner and maybe go catch a movie," Roxas said staring out the window. I smiled reaching over to lock fingers with Sora's.

We didn't say much while we drove back to the Hikaru's home. We pulled up the driveway and parked in front of the porch. "Dang Sora, this house is nice." Roxas got out of the car and looked up in awe. I noticed the Hikaru's other car was here already which meant that they were with Ventus. Sora and I stood on the other side of Roxas as Masuyo and Evany stepped out with Ryuu and Yuri. Evany had tears in her eyes while Masuyo had his arm wrapped around her.

Roxas took a step forward, "mom, what's wrong?"

"Roxas, we have to talk to you about something," this was the first time I had ever seen Masuyo so serious which was so opposite of his personality. "Well, it's more like we have to introduce you to someone."

He shook his head, "what are you guys talking about?"

Ventus came appeared from behind the Hikaru's. Roxas's eyes widened. Evany put her arm around her son, "Roxas, sweetie, this is Ventus… you're twin brother."

**A/N**: (**started** September 11, 2011- **ended **September 17, 2011) WOW, it took me THREE years to even start another chapter for this story… I know a sorry won't even cut it. But I am sorry! A lot has happened in three years. I officially broke it off with that guy I always talked about in previous Author's Notes. I met someone _**so**_ much better who is so much like the Sora I described in the first and second stories. And to top it off, I'm engaged to him! (insert huge smiley here)! We'll be getting married this coming up June (even more ironic. But yeah, like the story always has- it has come to life in bits and pieces. Example: My fiancé did work at Best Buy with his cousin just like Sora and Roxas did in Dear Diary 2.) But yeah, anyway… I will actually try working on this now that I have a general idea with where I'm going. The only bad thing is I can't remember what I had planned three years ago for Sora and Kairi's very special Valentine's Day. Go figure! I promise, I'll make it worth it though! Again, I'M SO SORRY! Thank you for those who haven't given up on me. It means so much!


End file.
